


Introversion

by snack_size



Series: Glowbug Verse [2]
Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Almost Everyone Lives, Alternate Universe - Yancy Lives, Crack, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, Kink Exploration, M/M, Max Still Thinks Yancy is his Boyfriend, Permanent Injury, Surgery, Topping from the Bottom, Wedding Planning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-06
Updated: 2013-12-12
Packaged: 2017-12-31 17:15:05
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 30,132
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1034269
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snack_size/pseuds/snack_size
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Chuck, Yancy, Raleigh and Mako return to Hong Kong after their two month European adventure. While everyone is giddy about planning the Becket/Mori nuptials, Yancy has to make some important decisions about his future - and figure out what to do when he realizes they'll impact more than him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Sequel to [Exhibition,](http://archiveofourown.org/works/963991/chapters/1890105) because I can't resist these two idiots.

Yancy grinned at the _Welcome Back to the Dome!_ banner that was strung across Cherno Alpha’s old Jaeger bay. The victorious heroes return from abroad! Another excuse to drink alcohol!

Sasha and Aleksis held vodka bottles, the Weis were all upright, Tendo and Allison were both shaking their heads at them preemptively, Gottlieb and Geiszler were fighting about something, and Herc was a little weepy. Max was on him, instantly, wiggling and happy to see his other person again - perhaps eager to tell him all about his adventures and all of the times he got sexiled with Mako and Raleigh. Yancy was pretty sure they bonded, so it was cool.

Herc hugged Chuck, pulling a shocked, choking sound out of Chuck and leading to the most awkward reciprocating back pat Yancy had ever seen. Once Chuck wriggled free Yancy plowed into Herc and squeezed him. Herc made the exact same sound as his son. _Oh, Hansens,_ Yancy thought.

“You all just want to see what presents we got for you,” Yancy said. He nodded at Sasha - he had got her list and thought that he had performed admirably. She smiled at him.

“Look at you, Fancy Hansen,” Sasha said, and flicked a finger at Chuck’s jacket - Yancy had to wonder if that was where Chuck had got his own derisive little finger flick from. Chuck blushed, slightly, and then she smiled. “You look good,” she said.

“Thanks,” Chuck said.

“And you,” she said, and flicked Mako in the chest as well, “You think no one is going to notice that in pictures you send.” She nodded her head at the ring on Mako’s finger.

“Oi!” Herc said - apparently, he hadn’t noticed, and neither had any of the other men - thereby effectively confirming yet another vicious gender stereotype. Yancy shook his head. “Congrats, you two!” he said. Then Herc reached down and squeezed Max tight, an odd look in his eyes - and Yancy suspected, though he had never seen it before, that it was the look of a man who wanted some grandbabies.

Chuck appeared completely oblivious to this and had gone over to Tendo and Allison to talk about how the transition was going - they’d be monitoring, researching, and getting everything in place to build a few more Jaegers for just in case.

Yancy didn’t know if their first real fight was lurking there. Herc had told Chuck he was retiring, which meant Chuck would need a new co-pilot if he were going to get into a Conn Pod again. He had sort of given Yancy a look when Yancy had pretended he and Raleigh were ambivalent about the whole thing - like, really? _Maate,_ Yancy thought, _we have put in ten years in one of the damn machines. It is time for us to retire and become wise and feared teachers of kwoon technique, or something._ Not to mention, now that he wasn’t being fueled by apocalyptic fear and its accompanying adrenaline, Yancy was really beginning to ache. One of his first orthopaedists had told him he would be lucky if he could walk again, let alone get in a Jaeger - and, when he’d proven him wrong, had cautioned that he’d be doing long-term damage by making that choice. Yancy had wanted to laugh in his face - so he was either going to sit things out and wait to get drowned in kaiju shit while he dutifully performed physical therapy or he was going to get in a Jaeger and fuck himself up a bit more, or perhaps fuck himself up permanently?

In Lucerne, he and Raleigh had a rare afternoon together. Chuck and Mako had been determined to climb the damn Swiss Alps, while Raleigh and Yancy had both made the sensible choice and were taking a cog train up. “Yeah, you know, I’m happy to help out,” Raleigh said. “But…” He glanced over at Yancy, who nodded his head.

“Mako might still want…” Yancy said.

“Yeah,” Raleigh replied. “But it’s all...you know, _if_ the Breach opens again. I’d like to stay positive, right? We nuked that...uh, other dimension, right?” Yancy nodded again. “We nuked it real good.” He looked troubled, for a moment, and then nodded his head.

A woman on the train turned and smiled broadly at both of them. They wrapped their arms around each other and she took a picture. Yancy gave her his phone as well - he barely had any pictures of himself and his brother on the trip. When he saw the picture he couldn’t help but focus on how old he looked. “We need a spa day,” he said. “I’m getting a facial.”

“Seriously?” Raleigh asked. He shook his head slightly. “And don’t worry about Chuck - first they’re gonna need to find someone who’s as big of an asshole as he is.” Yancy elbowed him in the ribs. “Come on! You admit it! He’s an asshole, and you love him because he’s an asshole!”

There was a shit ton of dim sum at the party. It seemed to have come courtesy of a tall man who lurked in the corner and appeared to think the party was steampunk themed. “Newt’s new underworld friend,” Tendo said. “Hannibal Chau - Stacker used to deal with him.”

“The kaiju parts dealer?” Yancy asked, and, suddenly, some of the PPDC’s miraculous Operation Pitfall funding made sense.. “But...are they, like, boyfriends, or..?”

“I don’t ask those questions,” Tendo said, just as Chau slipped out the door while Newt continued to argue with Hermann. Yancy shrugged. “C’mon, Becket Boy, spill it. I want _all_ the details.”

“Oi, it was about as obnoxious and adorable as you can imagine,” Chuck said, coming behind Yancy and wrapping an arm around his waist and resting his head on his shoulder. Yancy wished he could have seen Chuck’s expression in response to the completely shocked look on Tendo’s face - _where is Chuck Hansen, and how did you find pod people, Yancy Becket?_

Yancy grinned at Tendo - that’s right, he thought. I’ve domesticated the previously angry, wild Chuck. Well, sort of. He’d convinced Chuck that showing physical affection for someone in public wasn’t going to result in any major blows for his ego, masculinity or self-confidence. In fact, most people seemed to find the two of them adorable together.

“We have a video,” Yancy said, and Chuck pulled out his cell phone. There was no way Yancy was going to miss this moment in his baby brother’s live, so he and Chuck had gone as _Mission: Impossible_ style as they were able, found a secure location near the proposal spot, and positioned their iPhones.

“Aw, he tripped,” Tendo said. “Now he’s crying. Aw, Raleigh.” Mako had accepted the ring with a curt nod and slight smile. When Raleigh stood she had jumped at him, though, and wrapped her legs around his waist. Raleigh had not been prepared for this - apparently Mako had been saving up all her exuberance for that moment - and it caught him off balance. The two of them wound up rolling down a slight incline in the grass, laughing, giggling, and kissing one another. “You know how much money you could get for that?”

“I’m doing all right, thanks, Choi,” Yancy said, and immediately pulled Chuck’s phone back from Tendo’s hands before he got any ideas. “Am I going to have to check the shower for cameras?”

“Depends,” Tendo said. “You two still groping in public? And you’re right, that’s where the real money would be - you know you two have a fan page?”

“What?” Chuck asked, and Yancy shook his head. He wasn’t surprised. They’d certainly taken enough pictures with people throughout their European odyssey. Tendo pulled it up on his own phone and, predictably, it was people gushing about how cute the two of them were together - though there were comments from people who thought Raleigh and Chuck would have made a much better pair. “People are weird,” Chuck added. He scrunched his nose. It was adorable.

“They just know a pair of good looking bastards when they see it,” Yancy replied, and he kissed Chuck hard on the cheek. Tendo shook his head, but there was a smile on his face. _Glad you approve,_ Yancy thought.

They were both drunk at the end of the evening. Max trotted after Herc, deciding to cuddle up with his other person, and Yancy flopped into his bed and curled around Chuck. “It’s kind of weird to be back,” Chuck said.

“Yeah,” Yancy replied. He’d spent so much time in Shatterdomes, the past decade of his life, it was just like slipping back into the place that he was supposed to be. Like he had never left, cliche as it was.

He missed Europe already. And there were so many other places to explore.

“Maybe I could take some classes,” Chuck said. Yancy, recalling the fact that this had almost led them to a brawl in a pub, couldn’t resist the urge to smile. “You might be too old for it, though.”

“I don’t think there is an age limit on those things,” Yancy replied. Had Chuck made an age related joke before?

 _Stop worrying about, Yancy_ , he thought to himself as Chuck rolled over and kissed him on the lips. _Go to bed. You’re drunk._ “Yancy?”

“Mmm?” he asked. Chuck was more intoxicated than he was, another reason to excuse the comment.

“Remember Budapest?”

“I do,” Yancy said, and he smiled as Chuck curled into him a little deeper - Chuck was a fucking koala in bed, or whatever the most adorable Australian animal was. It had been cold when they got to Budapest and they had gone to one of the public baths where the large outdoor pools were heated. They had sat on a stone bench while snow fell all around them. Chuck had tried to catch a flake on his tongue but had little luck. Yancy had kissed him, hard and deep. Shared his own snowflake.

“Good,” Chuck said, and then he was asleep.Yancy ran his fingers through his hair for a few minutes, then drifted off himself.

* * *

They slept most of the next day, occasionally putting something on the television, but it was mostly perfunctory. Despite Yancy’s best efforts, Raleigh had dragged them through a lot of Important European Cities to see The Things You Had to See - they had photos of themselves in front of all of the things to prove it. Not to mention the jet lag. “Fuck, you’re gorgeous,” he said, during one period of wakefulness, and he mouthed at Chuck’s neck.

“We talked about that,” Chuck said. Yancy figured he was lucky - he’d got to Chuck before Chuck got any idea of how people perceived him. The fact that he was still clueless after their trip showed what a hard head he had. Yancy was pretty convinced that Chuck had experienced a chubby period, as an adolescent, and still hadn’t got over it.

“I can stop, then?” Yancy said. He dragged his mouth down to Chuck’s collarbone.

“No,” Chuck said. Yancy thumbed at one of Chuck’s nipples. “Want you inside me.”

“Oh,” Yancy said. They hadn’t done that since London, and that hadn’t exactly been a shining moment for him.

“M’gonna ride you,” Chuck said, and he rolled over so he could face Yancy.

“That is a great idea,” Yancy said, and smiled at him. Chuck put a hand on his cock and moved his hand up and down, slow, teasing Yancy so that he bucked into Chuck’s touch. “You are such a goddamn cocktease, I should really-”

“Oh?” Chuck said. “We can play like that, Becket, if you want to.”

 _Fuuck,_ Yancy thought. “One thing at a time. Add it to the list.”

Chuck pumped his hand a little harder. “You have a list?” The change in his tone from this sentence to his last one was remarkable.

Yancy kissed his forehead. “Of course I do. We’ve got lots of things to do, glowbug.” He got a pang in his stomach as he remembered that last time he’d said something like that - when Chuck had been unconscious, when he and Herc had been sitting a vigil over him.

“Huh,” Chuck said. He grinned and rolled Yancy onto his back and held him there. He sat on him, leaned over, got their cocks to touch. Then he drizzled lube on his own fingers and reached back and-

“Chuuuuck,” Yancy said, because holy shit, he’d created a monster - a beautiful, smart-ass ginger monster, and well done, really, Becket- “Oh, fuck.”

“You like that?” Chuck asked. He was rocking onto his fingers and had a bit of a dazed look in his eyes.

“Doing more research?” Yancy asked, and Chuck grinned at him.

“Have to show you the one I found, actually-” he said, and then moaned, apparently finding his own prostate. Yancy grinned. He never should have told Chuck about the Jaeger porn. Chuck had made it his mission to find the most ridiculous examples of it that he could, including the one guy who played Raleigh that looked like he could have been his twin except he had longer hair, much more facial hair, and a swagger that indicated he had probably killed someone. “Yancy, fuck.”

He slicked Yancy’s cock and then just slid over it. Yancy groaned and reached forward to touch Chuck’s chest and work his hands through the hair there. He trailed a hand down, rubbed at Chuck’s abundant happy trail.

Chuck took him, inch by inch, and Yancy watched the concentration and desire in his face - and he felt so good, so tight and warm and welcoming, Yancy really had to resist the urge to push. He gave Chuck a few strokes before he began rocking alongside with him. He twisted some of his chest hair.

“I was certain you waxed,” Chuck said, leaning forward slightly and then closing his eyes. “Unless you’re really sneaky.”

“Naw,” said Yancy. “Smooth like a Greek statue. The Becket’s greatest shame.” Chuck slid his legs slightly and then really moaned. “You like there?”

“Yeah, I-” Yancy increased his pace and circled his hips, as well, and soon Chuck forgot about Yancy’s naturally bare chest - a bit of a lie, he had exactly seven chest hairs and he tweezed them. He was biting at his lower lip, eager and open, and Yancy felt that familiar puddle form in his groin, his lower stomach. “Yes, Chuck, yeah, you feel so, so good…”

“Fuck, fuck,” Chuck said, and Yancy thrust hard up into him and grabbed Chuck’s cock. He loved the sounds Chuck made, how responsive he was, how clenched around his dick and-

Chuck came first, over himself and Yancy, and then, bless him, kept riding Yancy until he was done with his own orgasm. It was slow and languid, pouring out of him as Chuck rode him slowly.

Chuck slid off of him almost immediately, making more of a mess. Yancy ruffled his fingers through Chuck’s hair and grinned at him. “I do like that, you know,” he said, staring down at Yancy.

Yancy considered this for a moment and then nodded. After their little mishap, he’d been a bit embarrassed about the whole thing. Which was stupid, given that there was such an obvious work around to the problem.

“Duly noted,” he said. Chuck leaned down and kissed him.

* * *

They didn’t get out of the bed until Tendo knocked on the door. “Forgot to mention, last night, Chuck, but there’s something you need to take care of-”

“What?” Chuck asked.

“You’ve got almost half the mailroom filled with boxes you’ve been shipping back-”

“So he doesn’t need to take care of it, you just have a bunch of bets going about what’s in the boxes?” Yancy replied.

Tendo did not immediately respond to this, so Yancy nodded his head. Chuck grinned at him. Finally, Tendo said, “Herc said so.”

“He probably did,” Chuck said and he sighed. “Guess we need to put pants on.”

“Shirts, too, probably,” Yancy said. Chuck nodded.

Herc met them at the mailroom - proving that he, in fact, had said so or was just as curious as everyone else. “Sure bought a lot of stuff,” he said. He leaned against the wall, attempting to act disinterested.

“Books,” Chuck said.

This appeared to confuse Herc, which - Yancy had seen the man just accept plenty of much more bizarre news as though it was the daily weather report. “You bought and shipped back...books?”

“Yeah, from the places we visited,” Chuck said. He opened one box and pulled out a book on Denmark in World War II. “I think I might go to school for history, actually.”

“Huh,” said Herc. He glanced at Yancy, and all he could do was shrug his shoulders.

“Just take a class?” Chuck said, and Yancy opened his mouth, but then closed it. This was clearly a father/son moment. Even Max looked concerned, understanding that a lot of things could pivot on the next few sentences. Yancy reached down and rubbed his head.

“You can take classes in whatever you want,” Herc said. “Just never showed an interest in it, before.” He smiled at Chuck and Chuck smiled back. Yancy supposed it was like any parent discovering something new about their older child.

“All is well,” Yancy whispered to Max. He thumped his tail on the ground.

* * *

“You all right?” Yancy asked Chuck, the next day after lunch as they headed for the kwoon. Chuck looked like he had seen something very strange and still wasn’t sure how he was going to process it.

Yancy wasn’t entirely sure how the sparring would go but was relieved that they would be sparring with Herc and Raleigh - his brother knew what spots were stiff and sore, where Yancy had lost some maneuverability. _You’re not fighting the same,_ one of the Marshal’s had said, after they got back in Gipsy and took down Bonesquid. They’d covered, said they were more cautious because of what had happened. Still effective, just without that Becket swagger everyone had come to know and love.

Yancy knew Herc and Stacker were onto them, probably some of the other pilots as well.

“Uh…” Chuck said. He itched at the back of his head. “Mako asked me to be her bridesmaid. Uh, bridesman?”

Yancy considered this and then had to smile. “You and Sasha?”

“Yeah, I guess...she needs two, and…” Chuck turned a little bit red. “Like, she jockeyed with Evie, I don’t see why-”

“You guys are friends,” Yancy said. Chuck considered this. Not for the first time Yancy had to wonder if someone had explain the concept of friendship to Chuck. “And you’ll look real cute in something strapless-”

Chuck shook his head at Yancy. “As long as I don’t get paired with Tendo - that’s how it works, right?”

“Have you ever been to a wedding?” Yancy asked - not that he had extensive experience, but there had been Tendo and Allison, a few of the other techs, the Solar Prophet pilots...mostly Shatterdome affairs, people cobbling decorations together from what they could get and saving up ration tickets to contribute champagne and decent food.

“No,” Chuck said. “Should I have been?”

“Uh,” Yancy said. Chuck was glowering at him - Yancy forgot he still did this, from time to time. _You love him because he’s an asshole,_ words of wisdom from one Raleigh Becket. “Not necessarily. Just curious?” Yancy had an image of Chuck being told to stay home and watch Max while his dad went out and celebrated. And that really wasn’t anything, if Chuck was a teenager. An angry teenager.

Fortunately they made it to the kwoon, then, and Raleigh was already there warming up. Chuck picked up a bo and pointed it at him. “Never got a chance to kick your ass in here,” he said.

Raleigh turned his head, clearly amused. “I haven’t got a chance to kick your ass in here, either,” he replied.

Mako, who was apparently here to supervise and score, shook her head. “You will go with Herc, then?” she asked Yancy.

Yancy glanced over at Herc, who had just entered. Herc shrugged his shoulders. Yancy bit at the inside of his cheek and then nodded his head.

“We will let them simmer,” Mako said, and Herc grinned.

Yancy had never fought Herc, though he’d managed a win over Chuck several times and so he had a general idea of what to expect from the elder Hansen. If he had been in better condition - hell, even the condition he was in before the apocalypse closed, though that seemed to be a function of adrenaline and strong injectible painkillers more than anything else - he might have stood a chance.

When Herc took him to a second easy point, and his face was right near Yancy’s, Yancy could see the concern on it. “You good?” he asked.

“Tired?” Yancy muttered. Herc shook his head.

“Shoulder’s still a bit tight,” Herc said, louder, and looked over at Raleigh and Chuck. “Why don’t you two have at it.”

“Oi, old man, might be time to consider shuffleboard or something,” Chuck said, and grinned at Yancy. He did his best to grin back even as he followed Herc over to the other side of the kwoon.

“You got everything x-rayed after..?” he asked.

“Full body scan, too - MRI,” Yancy said.

Herc furrowed his brow and glanced down at Yancy’s thigh. “Might just be loss of mobility from not working out for two months,” he said. “But I trust you’re responsible enough to take care of it?”

Yancy nodded, though all he could see was himself with a cane - though Gottlieb managed to rock his, and didn’t they sell ones with flask functions? After all, the doctor had basically said that the PPDC issue titanium patch job they did on his hip and thigh had not been meant for life. And then there was whatever was left of him, under that, further fucked because he’d got back in his girl. Saved the world.

 _Fuck,_ he thought, as Raleigh and Chuck began to fight in a flurry of sharp, directed movements and cracks of the bo staff. Then he told himself, _You knew this was coming. Can’t delay the inevitable._

“I want the best you can find,” Yancy said.

Herc nodded. “Absolutely. I’ll put some calls in. Physical therapist is still here - make an appointment?”

Yancy nodded. He just hoped it wasn’t the smiley one who seemed to always catch Yancy on the days when his groin muscles were taut and twitching.


	2. Chapter 2

It was improbable, sure. On the other hand, Mako was a meticulous person who devoted herself fully to each task that she took on - so maybe they should have anticipated that the wedding would be no different.

“You know you have to throw a bachelorette party, right?” Yancy asked Chuck. He had come to Yancy looking confused and a little worse for wear, not sure how to respond to Mako’s request that he work with her to pick out colors for the wedding.

“I think I can handle that,” Chuck replied. He crossed his arms. Yancy imagined Chuck, Max, Sasha and Mako out on the town with pink glowing penis necklaces or something and then decided it was best not to pursue that further. “But this is-”

“Sit, Chuck,” Yancy said, before he could finish the thought. Chuck scowled, but sat. Yancy sat across from him. Chuck could learn all about gender and related stuff when he got packed off to college - Yancy couldn’t resist the idea that he would actually pack Chuck’s lunch and pat him on the head before sending him off with his backpack. Yancy also considered that he might want to dial down on the painkillers, but physical therapy was actually making him feel worse.

“Look, none of us thought that we would…” He paused, for a moment, thinking about Chuck laying in that hospital bed in a coma. “And so Mako and Raleigh want to celebrate, and get married, and...both of them tend to get a little too focused and intent on things, for different reasons-”

“Oi, Raleigh’s acting like Max when I give him a new squeaky toy,” Chuck replied. He glanced over at Raleigh, dutifully sitting at the other end of the cafeteria and putting post-it notes in the pages of several wedding magazines that had arrived for him that day.

“People often compare him to dogs,” Yancy replied, and smiled. “So, we’re going to tolerate them and then, when they get married, drink a lot of alcohol and, if they really run us ragged, make an embarrassing toast or moon someone during the dancing.”

Chuck considered this and then the color began to leave his face. “I have to make a toast?”

“Yeah, about Mako and Raleigh and...are you OK?”

“In front of everyone?” Chuck asked.

“It’s not any worse than a television interview,” Yancy replied.

Chuck shook his head. “I didn’t know them. Or have to look at them-”

“You could let Tendo do it,” Yancy replied.

Chuck looked even more pale. “Mako would kill me.”

“Max?” Yancy suggested.

“Mako would kick me in the balls,” Chuck replied. Would she? Yancy wondered. Mako was usually a lot more subtle than that.

“Maybe knee you in the balls,” he said. He wrapped his arm around Chuck’s shoulder. “It doesn’t have to be anything lengthy, just...you’re happy for them, romance is wonderful, blah blah blah.” Chuck sighed. “You know what, there’s a movie we should watch.”

Two and a half hours later and Chuck seemed to have a better understanding of what he was getting into, but was no less disgruntled. “I just don’t get it...she was, like, a black hole of a personality,” he said. “And that’s who Hugh Grant falls in love with? And what about what’s her name, the rich girl, they can’t-”

“I know,” Yancy said. He kissed Chuck, and Chuck sighed into the kiss. Then Chuck traced his hand down Yancy’s side and his hip. Yancy flinched.

“Been meaning to ask you about that,” Chuck said. He looked a little constipated. That was not a good sign. “Physical therapy?”

“Yeah, uh,” Yancy said. He pressed his lips together. The orthopaedists from the hospital in New York and London were en route - they were going to have to discuss this sooner or later. “So. Need to get a thorough exam, I guess. I-”

“Yeah,” Chuck said. “I noticed.” Yancy nodded.

“Two doctors are coming in,” he said. “So.”

“OK,” Chuck said. “Well - they’ll patch you up then, oi?”

Yancy nodded his head, though he wasn’t entirely sure. He had a dream last night where he was missing his wounded leg - amputated clear to the hip, and he hadn’t been able to get out of bed. Chuck was in the doorway, staring at him. You did not need to be a psychologist to know what that one was about.

Chuck kissed him and made a soft sound, a really tender sound, and something like Yancy hadn’t heard from him before. Yancy sighed and leaned into the kiss, let Chuck guide his tongue into his mouth and press Yancy back into the pillows.

* * *

“Weddings,” said Raleigh, that evening as they walked along the pier, “are complicated. Why can’t we just...get some booze, and someone to marry us, and...I mean, Mako!”

“Bridezillas are unpredictable, Rals,” Yancy said. “Never know who can succumb.”

“Bridezilla?” Raleigh asked. What was it with these kids, Yancy wondered?

“It’s probably just...you know, first big celebration since the Breach,” Yancy said. “Probably why she’s going all, you know, American dream wedding-”

“Oh...I kind of wanted that stuff,” Raleigh mumbled. Yancy elbowed him lightly and shook his head. “Um. But I just want it to be...you know, I don’t want to be planning for months.” Yancy nodded - he understood that. It seemed decadent, even if there weren’t kaiju anymore. He remembered some show his mom used to watch before the K-Wars, about people competing to see who had the greatest wedding, and they were spending twenty, thirty thousand dollars on things like swan ice sculptures and food before you even sat down for the meal. “Chuck sparring with Herc?”

“Yeah,” Yancy said.

Raleigh glanced down. “How bad is it?”

“Don’t know,” Yancy said. “Therapist said every muscle is really tight, working on that...hips are pretty fucked, either because of injuries or to compensate…” He shrugged his shoulders. _You get back in that Jaeger, you’ll be in a wheelchair by thirty,_ the initial doctor had said to him. Yancy hadn’t thought that future was even remotely probable.

“Yance-”

“Raleigh, it’s fine,” Yancy said. It wasn’t fine, but he wasn’t going to turn himself into some martyr. No one had forced him to make the decisions that he did, hell, Raleigh had tried to talk him out of it.

“How is it fine?” Raleigh asked - and there was legitimate anger there, and for a moment Yancy thought that it was directed at him. But it wasn’t, and Raleigh scrunched his face up like he was trying very hard to figure something out. “It’s not-”

“Rals,” said Yancy. “I’m still alive, yeah? And we…” He didn’t want to say it, conscious of the numbers that Hermann was still writing on his blackboard and the blueprints he had seen the techs and engineers start to tape to walls.

“Detonated a war head,” Raleigh said. Yancy felt safe enough with that.

“We did,” he said. “Look. I just need to get a tune up.” He was sick of talking about it - and it wasn’t going to get any better. Pretty soon he would be reduced to just his surgeries, recovery, whatever else they needed to do.

Raleigh’s eyes were wide. It was amazing the range of expression that he could go through so quickly. Yancy gave him a soft smile. “OK,” Raleigh said, but Yancy could tell that there was something else. He waited, met Raleigh’s eyes, and was very close to embracing him into a hug. “I’m fine,” Raleigh said, finally, and his voice was soft.

“I know,” Yancy said. Good thing he waited - now was the time for the hug. “I told you that I would keep you safe,” he said.

“That was when I was fourteen,” Raleigh replied. “That was before-”

“Doesn’t matter,” Yancy said. He let Raleigh go and resisted the urge to ruffle his hair - it had been easier, when Raleigh was shorter than him, anyway. Maybe when they went in and gave him new bionic thighs they could add a few inches.

“What did Chuck say?” Raleigh asked.

“Uh…” Yancy said. “They’ll patch you up then, oi?”

“But-”

“Well, we don’t know,” Yancy said.

Raleigh shook his head at him, and Yancy had known before Raleigh gave him that painfully earnest look of him.

“Chuck would of made the same choice,” Yancy replied. Raleigh shook his head again.

“He’ll be mad because there’s nothing he can do,” Raleigh said.

Yancy nodded. “Maybe he’ll actually kick your ass then…” Raleigh at least smiled at that. “We should head back. I’d like a shower before dinner.”

* * *

“I like that you do not grope Chuck in hallway anymore,” Hu Wei asked, when he and Yancy intersected as Yancy walked back to Chuck’s room. He and Hu had been spending plenty of time together in physical therapy. Hu had his new PPDC issued bionic prosthetic and was doing circles around Yancy with it, though. He could probably play basketball with it, but the Weis likely wouldn’t return to the court until Cheung could, and he was still struggling with coordination problems following his head injury.

“Well,” said Yancy, though this wasn’t really on purpose. He and Chuck’s amount of sex or contact hadn’t really decreased. Maybe it was a function of the fact that Chuck felt more comfortable touching him in public - it wasn’t really any fun if it didn’t make him squirm. Or was it something else? Yancy wondered if he should feel uncomfortable about that.

“How does it work, anyway?” Hu asked.

“Well, there are several ways men can have sex with one another, frottage, to start-”

“You and Hansen,” Hu said.

Yancy shook his head. “There’s money on it, right? Geiszler started it?” Hu shrugged his shoulders. “Go for the direct approach, I like it-”

“Silly to bet on,” said Sasha, and Yancy turned and smiled at her and Aleksis. He made a rumbling sound, indicating he agreed with his wife. “You,” she said, and gave Yancy a cat-like grin, “have pushy bottom written right across your forehead.”

Yancy had to grin back at her. Something seemed to be lost in translation for Hu, and Yancy was not about to explain this one. “Need to talk to you,” she said.

“If this is about the wedding-” Yancy began, because that was going to make it unlikely he got a shower in before dinner, damnit - and Hu, realizing that it probably was about the wedding, began to make his escape. He slowly backed away, then, once he thought he was within a safe distance, he moved much faster. You almost couldn’t tell the leg was fake, Yancy thought.

“Need to settle things,” Sasha said.

“When we get married,” Aleksis said, “We have cake and vodka. Go to Irkutsk for five days-”

“You honeymooned in Irkutsk?” Yancy asked.

“Lake Baikal very beautiful,” Sasha said. “And Aleksis is right. We get this done, planned, then we will not have to talk about for months. Just get them married.” She had a point, and Yancy remembered what Raleigh said about just wanting to be married. He sighed.

“How can I help?” he asked. Sasha smiled at him.

* * *

“What are you doing, hot stuff?” Yancy asked, keeping the tone light as he walked into Chuck’s room to get him for dinner. Chuck bristled at all pet names. Well, aside from glowbug, and at the time Yancy hadn’t known what an achievement it was. He nudged against Chuck’s neck and kissed him. Chuck was rigid and he seemed upset. “Chuck?”

Yancy glanced up and immediately swallowed and pulled back. He had not expected this - he should have, though. He certainly wasn’t surprised.

There he was in the emergency room when they had airlifted him, laid out on an operating table looking more like a bunch of parts than a human being. There were shots of him turned around, the piece of Knifehead’s tooth still stuck in him, various viscera visible in a variety of colors but all tinged red. A flap of skin just dangled. There was blood everywhere, pieces of things Yancy didn’t want to identify.

Then there were the pictures before surgery. He was covered in iodine and blood and you could see the perfect, pearly white of his thigh bone. It was broken in half and almost totally visible, his thigh had been opened like a Thanksgiving turkey.

“Chuck.”

“I wanted to-” Chuck turned to him and looked painfully young. He clicked, and there was Yancy after surgery - almost suspended in a state of the art hospital bed, entirely black and blue, with his arm and thigh pinned to their own, smaller cages. He barely looked human.

Chuck clicked again and the images progressed through Yancy’s recovery - well, sort of recovery, since there were pictures of the infection on his back, the skin grafts after they’d tugged off everything that had been eaten. There were close-ups of all of the stitches, demonstrating why he referred to what remained as frankenscars.

“I just-” Chuck’s voice was flat. He clicked again, and there was Yancy with the bear tucked in his arm, face blank and bruised, the length of his hair provided a decent timeline.

“It’s...you didn’t need to see any of that,” Yancy said. Chuck nodded. Yancy stroked his fingers through Chuck’s hair and closed the computer.

“Yeah I did,” he said. He sounded a little relieved and he turned and gave Yancy a light kiss.

“Sort of diminishes my sex appeal, you know?” Yancy said.

“Hardly,” Chuck said. The kiss in return was deep and Chuck put a hand to his jaw.

“Look, I just…” Yancy sighed. He moved his arm and he was pretty sure he could feel his elbow clicking. He still remembered that morning - _don’t get cocky,_ he said, and they had been a pair of cocky little bastards. Everything changed, after that.

“Herc said something,” Chuck replied. Was Raleigh telepathic? Some sort of empath? It wasn’t the first time that Yancy had wondered this. “Not to me...I overheard, about how he was amazed you even got back in...didn’t know it was that bad. I mean, I did, but…”

“I just, you know, what is there to say?” Yancy asked. Chuck slid back from the desk, and Yancy moved so that he could push the chair against the bed. Yancy straddled over him and leaned in so he could get a better look at him.

“I can...I can help, you know,” Chuck said. His voice was hushed.

They were complete idiots, Yancy decided, all of them.

“Sure,” Yancy said. “I mean…if you, it could be…it’ll be a lot like that,” he said, nodding at the computer that he had shut. The kid was capable of it, though. He took care of Max, and Max had a pretty awesome life.

“So?” Chuck asked.

“Well, not like I’m going to be, uh-” Yancy pressed down so that their groins aligned, just to make his point. Despite their position, the current situation was strangely devoid of erections. Chuck pressed a hand to Yancy’s chest.

“You are such a stupid cunt sometimes,” Chuck replied. “I’m not in it for the sex.”

“Oh,” Yancy said. He frowned.

“The sex is good,” Chuck said. “Great. I really like - But I like you - I, uh...love you. I like being with you.” Chuck was glaring at him, slightly, but Yancy understood, he sometimes felt the same frustration with Chuck. And besides, there were more important things to focus on - like how Chuck had said _I love you,_ without any prompting.

“I love you too,” Yancy said. His voice was softer than he wanted it to be. Chuck kissed him on the mouth, hard, and ran his thumb along his jaw.

“Fuck,” Chuck said, as Yancy adjusted his stance so that his hip stopped screaming at him. “Pretty soon we’re gonna be as bad as Mako and your brother.”

“Yeah, you know,” Yancy said, and he flopped on the bed. “You think we should try and put a stop to that?”

“We?” Chuck asked.

“Sure, you know, I’ll get them to sit down, think everything is safe, then you’ll come in and tell them what idiots they’re being,” he said. “You can manage that, right?”

Chuck sighed. They were going to be late for dinner - and what had he meant by Mako and your brother? A part of him felt invigorated by it, like he meant...but it had been three months, they were still in the honeymoon phase. _So, Yancy Becket, don’t get ahead of yourself,_ he thought. “We’re gonna miss dinner,” Chuck said.

Or had he meant that he didn’t like being like that, affectionate, expressing things...Chuck kissed him, though, on the lips - and Chuck Hansen wouldn’t do what he didn’t want to do, surely. _Are you still fifteen?_ he thought, and he smiled at Chuck and then got up.

“Right,” he said. “Food.” Chuck made a grumbling sound, and the look he gave Yancy was appreciative. “What?”

“Good angle,” Chuck said, and nodded at him. “Your ass. It’s a really great ass.”

“Ah,” Yancy said. He felt himself blush slightly and Chuck grinned at him.

* * *

“You remember when you and Allison got married?” Yancy asked Tendo. They were in LOCCENT, reformatting some of the software. Well, Tendo was reformatting software. Yancy was assisting him by ensuring a ready supply of coffee and keeping him from getting bored as things updated.

Tendo turned and pushed himself back towards Yancy on his wheeled chair. “Seriously, dude? That was rhetorical, right?”

“No, just checking to see if the rohypnol I got was-” Yancy shook his head at Tendo.

“Wedding planning bogging you down?” Tendo asked. “I would have thought serving as best man once would be enough.”

“I was so high on painkillers-” Tendo and Allison had been married eight months after Knifehead and waited until they were sure Yancy would be able to stand on his own.

“So you’re asking because you don’t remember,” Tendo replied. Yancy yawned. Usually he could at least get a decent six hours of sleep a night, but he couldn’t seem to get comfortable lately. Whether it was anxiety or actual physical discomfort he had yet to determine. Probably a combination. They tended to like to dance around, hand in hand. Having Chuck in the bed - not because he was Chuck, but just because he took up space and stole blankets - only added to the problem. “Look, they’ll be fine. I already got a caterer and DJ to set things up...well, Raleigh asked for some help, so.”

“He didn’t ask me.” Yancy said.

“You don’t know that stuff - and, besides, you’re the one that has to coach him through his first night of wedded bliss,” Tendo said. “Makes sure he get some nice lingerie for the evening.” Yancy groaned and shook his head. He didn’t need that particular kink of his affected by an image of his brother.

“Right, absolutely,” Yancy said.

“Sure you’ve got a couple tricks up your sleeve, Becket Boy,” Tendo replied. “Chuck is a lot more...sedate, these days. One might say...satisfied.” He arched an eyebrow.

“Well,” said Yancy, and he shrugged his shoulders. He was about to say something, but then two pieces of information clicked together in his head. “You’re in on that bet, too, eh? Not gonna play into your hand.”

Tendo shook his head. “You never let me have any fun,” he replied.

“Not fun,” Yancy said. “You just want to win the pot - why are you even betting on this?”

“No, it is fun - I think most of the point is to get one of you to crack.”

“You can do better than that word choice, there, it’s not even a pun,” Yancy said.

“You’re right,” Tendo said. “I’m glad you hold me accountable.

* * *

“Are these what I think they are?” Yancy asked. He hadn’t seen college brochures since high school, when he used to go and make out with Dan Keller in the College Success Center because no one else ever went in there.

“Yeah, uh…” Chuck leaned in, slightly, almost conspiratorially. “I didn’t order them.”

Yancy glanced over at another table where Herc was talking with a group of their best Jaeger engineers. Looked as though that was moving full speed ahead.

 _Adorable,_ Yancy thought, because the idea of Herc Hansen browsing college websites, deciding which ones he deemed appropriate for his son, and then requesting materials was almost too much. Yancy scratched Max’s head under the table and he answered by thumping his leg against the floor.

“And, remember, all that about, oh, don’t worry, after awhile, Max will just get used to you - he still thinks you’re dating him, and…” Chuck kept talking as Yancy found his eyes drawn to the colleges that Herc had selected for Chuck: MIT, Oxford, Cambridge, University of Melbourne, Columbia, Princeton, McGill, Caltech. “What?” Chuck asked.

There was that tone, and Yancy shook his head. “Nothing, just...looking-”

“You don’t think I could-”

“I didn’t, I was just curious-” Yancy said, and, OK, maybe he had wondered if Chuck was that kind of bright - because obviously you had to be some kind of genius to pilot a Jaeger at fifteen, but he had been just as surprised as Herc to see Chuck even just reading. Chuck read anything in the three weeks Yancy knew him before Pitfall, but then again, how could you judge that as normal circumstances? Or anything before Pitfall, really?

His face betrayed him, he knew, he was as bad as Raleigh at having a poker face. “You don’t think I’m good enough?” Chuck asked, and before Yancy could answer he gathered up the brochures and stomped off.

Max whined at Yancy’s foot and Yancy gave him a nudge with his shoe. Max sighed, huffed, and then walked after Chuck. Yancy felt his face redden when he saw that there were several sets of eyes on him in the dining hall.

Herc sat down across from Yancy and nodded his head at him. “Let me guess,” he said. “He’s handled something surprisingly well, showed some maturity. Then he got pissy about the college stuff.”

“Yes,” Yancy said. Herc nodded his head, and Yancy had a deep, panicked thought and he was amazed that it hadn’t struck him before - what was going to happen, now that he and Raleigh weren’t drifting anymore, now that they would have to know each other less? Would he lose him? Yancy swallowed.

“Taught him that,” Herc said. He pulled Chuck’s half eaten breakfast towards him and started to pick at it. “Wife used to complain about it all the time.” He put some fruit in his mouth and frowned a bit. “Doctors are here, too. Want to see you at ten.”

“Don’t they have jet lag, or something?” Yancy asked, and the look that Herc gave him revealed that Herc had likely indicated to some of the world’s best trauma orthopaedists that they were going to look at his damn Ranger whether they had jet lag or not. “Thank you,” he said. Herc grunted at him.

“I’ll let the kid know,” he said, and Yancy just agreed to it, even though he really shouldn’t have trusted any of Herc’s ideas in regards to how to handle relationship issues.

* * *

Chuck was there and waiting like nothing had happened, and Yancy smiled at him. “You knew they were here,” he said. Chuck pressed his lips together, and Yancy took this as confirmation. “Because you know I think that you’re more than capable-”

“Yeah,” Chuck said, before Yancy could compliment on something other than his piloting as the doctors opened the door to the exam room.

Instead, it was Raleigh. “Sorry, sorry, oh, not late? Good.” He smiled at Chuck, and Chuck just nodded at him. _Shit,_ Yancy thought, because he hadn’t thought about this - them getting into a tizzy who had the strongest proprietary interest in his recovery.

Before anything could be said, though, the two doctors actually entered.

“Ranger, I’m Dr. Kim,” said the American.

“Dr. Ganesan,” said the English. Chuck narrowed his eyes at both of them - Dr. Kim was your typical ortho, tall, broad, used to be some kind of jock but had gone out to pasture now that he was in fifties, chose his medical speciality because he wanted to keep working with jocks. Dr. Ganesan was petite and younger. “We’d like to start by getting a sense of your range of motion - do you mind getting down to your underwear?”

“Not at all,” Yancy said. Chuck crossed his arms. “This is-”

“Ranger Chuck Hansen,” Chuck said, and Yancy rolled his eyes as he tugged off his PPDC t-shirt and then unbuttoned his pants.

“Raleigh Becket,” Raleigh said, and he gave them that easy smile of his.

“Pleasure to meet you,” both doctors said, almost simultaneously, though you could see them putting things together. Yancy nodded at the chairs that had clearly been put in the exam room just for both of them. Hell, why not invite half of the PPDC? Chuck crossed his arms and watched the doctors as Yancy stripped. Raleigh looked concerned when Yancy was down to his boxer briefs and that made Yancy nervous - he didn’t want there to be some problem that was actually visible.

The doctors had him move his good arm and leg first and then followed with various exercises on his bad side. They poked, prodded, hit him with the little medical hammer to check his reflexes. Dr. Ganesan took notes on a tablet while Dr. Kim murmured observations to her in purely medical terms.

“Well,” said Dr. Kim, “We’re going to need several MRIs, some X-Rays…then we’ll go from there.” They both nodded at Yancy.

“Then what?” Chuck asked.

“I’m sorry?” said Dr. Ganesan.

“Then what’re going to do?” Raleigh asked.

“You’re the best in the world, you must have some idea what’s going on,” Chuck said. The doctors looked at each other.

“You reported in the form that your elbow has been clicking,” said Dr. Ganesan. “It is likely we will have to re-do the plates and hinge there. It has likely come out of alignment.” Yancy nodded. “Your leg is more concerning. Your hips are very much out of alignment.”

“So what are you gonna do?” Raleigh prodded, again, and Chuck made a grunting sound. They were kind of cute - and Yancy appreciated it, because they could be obnoxious and he could be the ideal, compliant patient.

“Likely a full hip replacement,” Dr. Kim said. Yancy closed his eyes and sighed, then looked over at Raleigh and Chuck. They still had their game faces on. “A knee replacement might be needed, possibly replating the femur. And we need to get a look at the damage to your spine.”

“You’re just assuming it’s there?” Yancy asked. Both doctors nodded. “Great,” he said.

“We will start with the X-Rays,” said Dr. Ganesan. “I will call the techs.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Many thanks to the lovely [Toast who helped my brainstorm a certain scene in this chapter.](http://dytabytes.tumblr.com/)

Two days later, he, Raleigh, Chuck and Herc were seated in front of the two doctors in the office that they had cordoned off in the rest of the medical bay. Mako was probably only missing because Sasha had taken her shopping for a wedding dress - she had something planned, Yancy could tell. He was sure he would find out when it was time.

“Well,” said Dr. Ganesan, and she nodded her head at the wide variety of images of Yancy that had been taped to the wall behind them. Yancy found it fascinating how you could pick out all of the metal bits inside of him, the plates and rods that they had used to fuse him back together after the kaiju had done its damndest to rip him apart. “The preceding work was done with a great deal of care but it’s our opinion that the intention wasn’t that you would be piloting a Jaeger for another five years-”

“So how fucked am I?” Yancy asked, just to spare everyone else all of the suspense and dense medical explanation. Dr. Kim met his eyes and Yancy grinned at him - and then Dr. Kim looked over at Herc, like Herc was his father just because he was the Marshal. _I’m a big boy,_ Yancy thought. _Just ask his son._ He cracked himself up.

“We were quite pleased to find your spine was not compromised,” Dr. Kim said. Too bad Yancy had grown good at doctor speak over the years. They were softening him up.

Dr. Ganesan was a little more savvy, it appeared. Or it could have been Herc and Chuck issuing a growl that they may have taught to Max, or that Max may have taught to them. “You will need a bilateral hip replacement, which can also be done when we repair the damage to the femur. You will not need a knee replacement. But we will also have to repair your shoulder and elbow.”

Yancy pressed his lips together. No wheelchair, as far as he could tell, so he was going to take that as winning. “OK,” he said.

“OK?” said Raleigh. He had those big, sad eyes that he still got on occasion, even dating and now engaged to Mako.

“Could of been a lot worse,” Yancy said. This pretty much deflated Raleigh. He instantly felt really bad for it - for Raleigh, it had been a lot worse, for two hours, at least, and Yancy...well, he had the luxury of being able to forget most of that. He remembered dying, but he then he had woke up. “I’m sorry,” he said. He reached over and squeezed Raleigh’s knee. Raleigh nodded. “When?” he said, and turned to the doctors.

“When?” asked Dr. Kim. He looked at Dr. Ganesan.

“Little brother is getting married,” Yancy said. “So I have to do that.”

The two doctors had some sort of telepathic conference, and Dr. Ganesan sighed. “We could do the arm surgery first, if you are not opposed to having your arm in a sling-”

“Have to clear that with the old fiance, oi?” Chuck asked.

“I’m sorry?” Raleigh said.

“Well, don’t think she planned on that for the pictures or for the toast - might have to hold the champagne flute with his other hand, and-”

“What are you insinuating?” Raleigh interrupted.

“I’m not insinuating anything, I flat out said it-” Chuck said. Yancy closed his eyes and exhaled, because they were going to topple over him to try and punch each other again, and-

“Oi, shut up,” Herc said. “You’re both being a bit meticulous about the wedding, is all.” Herc narrowed his eyes at Chuck. Max whined at Chuck’s feet and Yancy scooped him up into his lap. “You can do that surgery here?”

“The arm, certainly,” said Dr. Kim. “The hip replacement should be done in a better surgical setting - I can provide you with a list. Neither of us specializes in hip replacements, so-”

“Sure, that would be helpful,” Yancy said, and smiled at them. Max did too, he was pretty sure. “We can schedule the elbow soon?”

“We can do it tomorrow, if you’d like,” Dr. Ganesan said. Yancy glanced over at Chuck.

“Might as well,” Chuck said.

“Get you on the road to recovery,” Herc said, and smacked Yancy on the back.

Raleigh remained stone faced in his chair and crossed his arms. Yancy inclined his head in his direction and Herc nodded. Yancy passed Max back and Herc started talking about something Australian, possibly cricket or rugby, and Chuck followed him out. Yancy turned to Raleigh as the doctor’s took their leave.

“Don’t know how you can with that insufferable shit-”

“Oh, Rals,” Yancy said, and he turned his chair so his knees hit his younger brother’s. “You know you’re still my favorite number one bestest little shit.” Raleigh made a grumbling sound. Yancy put his hand on his knee. “You were there for me through everything, little bro,” he said. That was, what, seven sincere words in a row? The little bro was allowed, right?

This seemed to be what Raleigh needed. “I just-”

“I know, kid,” Yancy said. “I know what you felt, remember?” Raleigh nodded and gave him a slight smile.

“Am I really being a..?” Raleigh flinched, not wanting to say the word.

“I think Mako, as with every endeavor she takes on, wants it to be perfect,” Yancy said. “She’s not being...you know, entitled or bratty or anything, just...particular?” He hoped it was the right word choice. As soon as he saw the little hearts and stars begin to float around Raleigh’s head and pop like bubbles with little boop! sounds he knew he was right.

Time to dial down on the painkillers? _Naw,_ he thought, _after all, you’re going to be chewing plenty after tomorrow._ Besides, even if he was a bit stoned - he was also in a lot of pain.

“Just...be patient with Chuck, yeah?” Yancy said. “He hasn’t, uh…” He wasn’t sure how to phrase it - hasn’t sat, vigilant, by someone’s bedside before? Been through rounds of surgery and recovery? Raleigh nodded, though.

“I still can’t wrap my head around it, you know. You and him,” Raleigh said. Yancy shrugged his shoulders.

“Well,” Yancy said.

“You’ve always had weird taste, though,” Raleigh said, and nodded his head.

“Whatever gets you through the day, kid,” Yancy replied. Raleigh shook his head.

* * *

“Yo. Becket.” Yancy turned, on his way back to his room for the evening - surgery tomorrow! How exciting!

Jin Wei was crooking his finger at him. Yancy couldn’t help but think of it as a menacing gesture, like Jin was going to try and sell him drugs or something. “Yeah?”

“I have money on this bet,” he said. “I split with you, yes? You confirm?” He raised his one functional eyebrow at Yancy.

“I appreciate that, you know, just coming right out with it-”

“All of you so stupid,” Sasha interrupted. “I tell you. Clearly he is pushy power bottom.” She grinned at Yancy before draping her arm around him. “You and I, Becket, have things to discuss.” Yancy grinned and shrugged at Jin, who just issued a grumbling sound before he melted back into the shadows - or, turned around and walked in the other direction. Whichever was more dramatic and cool. “I get Mako to pick dress today.”

“Really?” Yancy asked. He couldn’t imagine she would make the decision in one shopping trip.

“Yes,” said Sasha. “They give to her for free, because she is Mako Mori. She could not say no.” Sasha pulled her arm back and opened the door to her room. “Come, have some vodka.” Aleksis waved at him from the desk, where it looked like he was playing some sort of multiple person roleplaying video game. Yancy waved back.

Sasha poured him an actual drinking glass of chilled vodka and sort of pushed him into the oversized chair in their room before sitting on the bed herself. “Tendo arranged everything else. Herc has not got certification, yet, to marry them. Once he does-”

“Wait...oh, shit, you’re going to throw a surprise wedding, aren’t you?” Yancy asked. Mako would very quietly flip the fuck out if they did.

“Yes,” said Sasha. “Tired of flowers, centerpieces, cake flavors, all this nonsense.”

Aleksis pulled his headphones down for a second. “Just need booze, good food, good music,” he said, then put the headphones back on.

“I really don’t think-”

“Besides,” said Sasha. “Need to do sooner rather than later, before best man is out of commission.”

Yancy sighed. “They’re doing surgery tomorrow,” he said. Sasha’s face clouded. “Just need to get some pieces replaced,” he said. True, and also framed the whole adventure like it was no big thing. “Probably just have my arm in a sling. Or in one of those binders.”

“Hmmm. This means planning with...Chuck.” Sasha furrowed her brow.

“Aw, he can handle it,” Yancy said. “Especially if it’s just food, booze, and good music.” Sasha nodded her head and smiled at him. Yancy drank some more of his vodka, hoping - really, in vain - that this would be the last of it.

Sasha grinned at him, shark like as Aleksis swore at the screen in Russian - something not to repeat in polite society - and she filled his glass again. “To Raleigh and Mako,” she said. “They will have precious, adorable children.”

“Adorable and competent,” Yancy thought, and then became afraid. Sasha nodded, perhaps thinking the same thing. They downed their vodka.

* * *

In retrospect...well, hindsight was twenty/twenty, all of that.

“Chuck, look...I just-” Yancy said, seated in front of the bathroom door that had recently been slammed in his face.

“Nope! Fuckwit!” Chuck called from the other side. Yancy sighed - and, honestly, when Chuck looked back on this he would realize that Yancy’s reaction was completely understandable, reasonable, even. Because when he had returned from Sasha’s - unintentionally drunk on vodka, too, mind - he found Chuck sprawled on the bed wearing a pair of...panties.

High waisted, pink cotton panties. The kind you buy in packages at places like Wal-Mart. With a big, thick band that said HANES.

Yancy burst out laughing - and, really, was he wrong in initially assuming it was just Chuck being a little shit? It was sort of a Chuck thing to do.

He stopped as soon as he realized Chuck hadn’t meant it as some joke and raised his eyebrows, trying to figure out exactly why Chuck would buy mom underwear. Admittedly, his reaction time was dulled by the alcohol mixed with the painkillers.

Chuck turned a bright, humiliated red, and bolted for the bathroom. He locked the door before Max even had a chance to lumber after him.

Max pawed at the door, moaning. “I just-” Yancy began, stiffled a giggle - remembering the image - and then inhaled. “What were you doing with those-”

“What? You like them!” Chuck shouted. “You wanted me to!”

Yancy’s smile was probably really dopey - this meant Chuck had picked up on things, small things, like the way Yancy had reacted when he asked Chuck about what got his panties in a wad...and some other incident, probably in Amsterdam. And it also meant he wanted to do something kinky and sexy for Yancy, which, well, he had already demonstrated that but this was definitely not Chuck’s thing. And he was doing it the night before his surgery. Really, the whole thing was...really nice, actually, thoughtful, and sexy, but-

Just a bit of an execution fail.

Max moaned at the door and laid down.

“I do! Just, those-”

“Fuck off!” Chuck yelled. Yancy picked Max up and had to laugh into his soft fur, because all he could imagine was Chuck sitting in those panties on the bathroom floor, completely red and pissed off.

“OK,” he said, but he didn’t move. It was going to take a few minutes, but once Chuck realized Max was on the other side of the door he would likely break.

Max pawed at the door and started to issue a low, sad moan because he couldn’t go and comfort Chuck in his time of need. Yancy scrunched his ears in his head and massaged at his neck. Max started to whine. Yancy let him go so that he could start pawing at the door.

It opened, but just by a crack. “I’m sorry, glowbug,” Yancy said. He gave his best contrite face, pouting slightly - he might have stole it from Raleigh.

Chuck peered out at him and let Max lick his face for a moment as he thought. Then, deciding Yancy was sincere, exited the bathroom naked. Yancy sighed at the sight. Chuck had become a little slimmer - they all had, without six hours of working out and high protein diets for Jaeger pilots - but his shoulders were still broad, his thighs still muscled, his ass still round and firm. Yancy resisted the urge to just reach up and touch him.

“Those weren’t what you were thinking of, were they?” Chuck asked. Yancy shook his head. Chuck looked back at the grandma panties on the bathroom floor. Max waddled in and picked them up in his mouth. “Uh…” Yancy shook his head and they both watched as Max carried them back to his bed, where he had one of Chuck’s socks, one of Yancy’s t-shirts, and one of those stupid hats Chuck wore. “That’s kinda relieving, actually, because I was like, well, whatever floats your boat, mate…”

“Can I show you?” Yancy asked. He moved in closer to Chuck and kissed him, just working his lips against Chuck’s.

“You taste like vodka.”

“Sasha and I had to talk,” Yancy replied.

Chuck nodded, and Yancy went over to his sock drawer and began to rummage inside. Chuck looked surprised and he probably thought Yancy was going to take him over to a computer. Instead, Yancy pulled out a pair he’d bought in Copenhagen when Chuck had been distracted - teasing Raleigh about getting a really thick, ugly Nordic sweater. They were satin, black, had lace insets right at the hip bone and a little keyhole and bow at the center of the ass. “Lingerie,” Chuck said. “That is-”

Yancy just kissed him again, because, really, semantics. He sucked at Chuck’s lower lip and turned his head into Chuck’s neck. “I really appreciate it, you know...you’re too good to me…” Chuck began to redden again. There was almost a difference in the shades, though.

Yancy reached down and began to stroke his cock, soft but hardening, and Chuck moaned a bit and pushed closer towards him. Yancy gently kissed his neck and slid his mouth down. Then he kissed up, letting his stroke become a little firmer, and he sucked and teased Chuck’s earlobe with his tongue. It wasn’t long before Chuck was hard. “Max,” he said.

“Goddamnit,” Yancy replied. He was pretty sure that Max would happily sit in his dog bed with the granny panties while they fucked, but Chuck was determined that Max not witness it.

Chuck grabbed the panties/lingerie/whatever out of Yancy’s hand. Yancy groaned and stepped back, then went and grabbed Max. “Time to go visit...Sasha,” he said, since she was now across the hall from them.

“Hello!” he called in Russian. “I’m in need of a dog sitter for an hour!” He tossed Max in the door. Max grunted out a protest.

“Hour is optimistic, Becket!” Sasha called back.

Yancy stopped at his door for a moment. _Fuck,_ he thought, not sure what he had done to deserve this. He opened it slightly. “Take two?” he asked.

“Mmmm,” Chuck replied.

“Uuh,” Yancy managed, “You look…” Chuck was halfway up in the pillows, smirking at him, black underwear on, cock hard against the satin so that you could see an outline of just about anything. Ginger hair came out in tufts over the band and then a soft line of it crawled up to his naval - Chuck was deliciously furry, as far as Yancy was concerned, he could spend an hour twisting his chest hair into little peaks.

“You are such a dirty old man,” Chuck replied. Yancy cocked an eyebrow and then slid out of his clothes, slowly, keeping an eye on Chuck as he did.

He slipped his own boxer briefs off and shook his head at Chuck when he slid his fingers into the waistband of the panties. “Oh, no,” Yancy said, and climbed into the bed. He got over Chuck and bent his knees, kissing him hard.

Then he leaned down, aligned their hips, rubbed his cock against Chuck’s and groaned at how smooth and silky the satin was. “Oh, _oh,_ ” Chuck said, and then he was working his hips against Yancy’s in earnest. “Oh that’s - OK…”

Yancy thrust his tongue into Chuck’s mouth and both of them groaned. He put his hands on Chuck’s hips and ran them over the satin, then pulled to get it a little tighter. “Fuck, Yancy-”

“I know, right?” Yancy murmured, and he slowly made his way down Chuck’s body, kissing his nipples and running his fingers through his hair. He traced a finger up Chuck’s erection so it bobbed in the panties, and Chuck made this soft, low moan that made Yancy want to eat him up.

He mouthed his cock, used his tongue on it, traced a line up the panties from Chuck’s balls. “Christ, fuck,” Chuck said, and then Yancy slid them down so just his cock head emerged. “Yancy!” He put it in his mouth and sucked, hummed, trailed his tongue around that sensitive edge. “Yancy, fuck!” Yancy put his thumb right over Chuck’s prostate and rubbed, gentle, let him feel the silk against it. “Nngth! Goddamnit, you are going to be such a smug bastard, aren’t you?”

“Mmmhmm,” Yancy replied, slid the panties down and took all of Chuck’s cock down. He debated sucking him until he came, decided it would be better to draw it out, and proceeded slowly.

Chuck berated him. “You are such a tease, fuck you!” he said. His fingers tugged hard at Yancy’s hair and he hummed. _Oh, the places we’ll go,_ he thought, and then he pulled back up.

Chuck had fished the lube out already and he was almost glaring at Yancy. Then he grinned, grabbed him, and turned him over on his back. Yancy grinned at him as he slicked his fingers, spread Yancy’s good leg, and then pressed in. “That feels so good, Chuck, that’s...uh!” Chuck wasn’t wasting time, it seemed. Yancy grinned at him and laid back, let himself experience the pleasure and slight pain as Chuck fingered him open.

“Chuck…” he murmured, as Chuck thrust three fingers inside and spread them. “Fuck, uh - I’m gonna be, uh...for awhile, so let’s…”

“Ah,” Chuck murmured, and he pulled back enough that Yancy rolled over his back. He put his arms down, grabbed a pillow to rest his head on, and stuck his ass right in the air. “Fucking hell, Yancy,” Chuck said. “Your ass…” He squeezed both sides, massaged it, then pulled him apart.

Chuck slid in, but just for a moment, and then he thrust hard. Yancy groaned at how perfect it felt, hard and breaching him and pulling him apart. “Yeah, Chuck, like that, yes-” he said, because fuck, they were going to have to be more careful for a long time after this. “Fuck me open.” Chuck grasped his hips and pulled him along with his thrusts. “Yes, yes, yes…”

“Yeah,” Chuck said, and did, sliding almost all the way out and into him. Yancy rocked back against them and they soon found a hard, brutal rhythm. “You’re gonna come on my cock.”

“Yes.” Not difficult - Chuck was hitting his prostate dead on and Yancy was being torn in several different directions by it. “Fuck, fuck, you feel so good-” He shifted his hips slightly and moaned, loudly, as Chuck slid into him at the same time. “That, do that, fuck, yes, oh-” And then he was coming, long and in waves, gasping and almost collapsing as Chuck fucked him straight through it. He came just as Yancy began to think coherently again and Yancy moaned at that sensation, as well, warmth filling him up and Chuck grasping at him and then sliding out.

Yancy curled into him and put his head on his chest immediately. Chuck was still smirking, which was adorable - Chuck would probably withhold sex for days if he knew how often Yancy classified him with that word. Yancy sighed, content, as Chuck ran his fingers through his hair. “What else do you have in that drawer?” Chuck asked.

Yancy turned to meet his eyes and grinned. “Oh, you’ll see,” he said. “But it will be your turn next.”

“My turn?” Chuck was still a little fuzzy, it seemed.

“Chuck, you’ve watched enough of that Jaeger porn, I’m sure there’s something you want to try-”

“Ah,” Chuck said, and there it was, just the slightest red tinge to his cheeks that indicated there was, indeed, something he wanted. “Good - but you’re also going to wear those things too and it’s not going to count.”

“Fair enough,” Yancy said. He sighed and hoped that Sasha would just bring Max back after the arranged hour. Or maybe they’d have a sleepover, Max could eat some blini and maybe have a little vodka and spoon with the two of them. Yancy would pay very good money to see that.

They laid in silence for some time, and then Yancy felt a slight shift towards something heavy. He knew it was coming - they hadn’t discussed it yet, after he’d been so quick to agree to the surgery. “Are you nervous?” Chuck asked.

Yancy pulled himself up from Chuck’s chest so he could lay side by side with him. “Of course,” he said. “You have to be - surgery is...but I’ll be in good hands, and it needs to happen.”

“I know,” Chuck said. He traced his finger down the scar on Yancy’s elbow. “I’m sorry.”

“I made the choice,” Yancy said.

“Course you did,” Chuck replied, “None of us would have done anything different.” He pressed his lips together and his brow furrowed and then he sighed. Yancy knew he could do it, though, and kissed his cheek. “Just...I come out with a bunch of daddy issues, and-”

“You sort of didn’t have a pulse when they found you,” Yancy replied. He felt his throat tighten, remembering-

“Yeah, but,” Chuck waved his hand over himself. He had some residual burns from the drive suit, but nothing like... Yancy had to shake his head - must be nice to be young. Or just be Chuck Hansen. He sighed and his lip twitched.

“Nothing we can do,” Yancy said, and he sighed. “Just put one foot in front of the other.”

“Hmm,” Chuck said. “That’s profound.” He smiled, slightly, and then rolled over and groaned. “I’ll go and get Max,” he said, and he shucke on a pair of sweatpants. Yancy nodded at him and smiled.

He was nervous. Less about his elbow, more about what they wanted to do with his hips and leg. How many different ways could that go wrong? They’d already had a hard enough time reattaching his thigh. There were, apparently, a few hour where they were certain they would have to amputate.

On the other hand - nothing he could, and it wasn’t like being nervous or angry or sad or anything was going to change things. _Just keep swimming,_ he thought, and then grinned when Max wiggled himself next to Yancy and sighed, content.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> warning for overly sugary fluffy wedding feelings.

“This fucking sucks,” Yancy said, as Chuck and Herc attempted to get his arm into the tuxedo button down shirt for the surprise wedding. “Fuck, ow!” He tugged away from Herc, who was looking at him like a mechanical problem that needed to be solved.

“Why don’t we just cut the sleeve off?” Chuck asked. “Not like anyone is gonna see it anyway, with the jacket.”

“I’m going to take the jacket off to bust out some sweet, sweet dance moves,” Yancy replied. Chuck and Herc rolled their eyes in the exact same way. Yancy was not entire sure how to respond to this.

“Naw, we’re doing it,” Herc said. “You’re wrapped up to your shoulder anyway.”

Chuck went over to the drawer and got some scissors. Yancy just relented - the two of them, despite both having also broken their arms, were not being gentle. The whole thing had honestly been a futile exercise. They were all intelligent people. They should have come to this conclusion sooner - at least Yancy could blame the painkillers. He sighed as Chuck began to cut at the shirt. “Didn’t we rent that?” Yancy asked.

“Oh,” Chuck said.

Herc shrugged his shoulders. “Like they’ll fucking charge us,” he said. “Privileges of saving the world.” He nodded his head.

“Just make sure you return it,” Yancy replied. Herc grinned at him, like he was looking forward to it. People sometimes forgot Herc and Chuck were related, that Chuck had to have got it all from somewhere.

Yancy had been surprised, when he woke up from his surgery, to find Herc sitting by his bed. “Hey there,” Herc said. “How do you feel?”

“Gross,” Yancy said. He hated that post-anaesthesia feeling, all groggy and grasping like you were trying to find your way through quicksand to conscious thought. His throat was dry, too. Herc anticipated this and put a straw in his mouth. Yancy almost groaned as he sipped some water.

“Raleigh wasn’t...so Chuck took him to get something to eat,” Herc said.

“Yeah,” Yancy replied. “Someone should get him an Ativan.”

Herc nodded. Yancy felt selfish for not thinking about it - how could Raleigh not have some PTSD related to his lengthy vigil at Yancy’s bedside last time? No one could tell him if his brother was going to live, at first, and then when they thought he was getting better he got infected with the flesh eating bacteria. That put them back at square one, and even after he’d cleared that, no one could tell Raleigh if Yancy would be crippled, wheelchair bound, pissing into diapers for the rest of his life.

“He’s a good kid,” Herc said.

“Hope he and Chuck don’t start a fight in the mess,” Yancy replied. Herc reached over and squeezed his good hand.

“Doc said everything went real well,” Herc said. “Arm will heal up really nice for you.”

“Good,” Yancy said. He closed his eyes and drifted back to sleep.

They kept him in medical for two days and released him once they were sure that the elbow and upper arm were going to settle correctly. “There was a lot of scar tissue,” said Dr. Kim. “We scraped most of it away. You will see significant improvement in movement.”

“Great,” Yancy said. He did his best to get up and walk around, but he wasn’t as young as he used to be. Or maybe he just didn’t have the incentive. He felt drained, his eyes were drooping all the time - it was like when they first got to the Jaeger Academy and the instructors decided to weed out everyone who couldn’t hack it. He’d barely stayed awake at dinner. But this was worse, because then he had been excited and now he just felt dull and used up.

He laid propped up on pillows in his bed and watched stupid movies and stupider television shows. Chuck sat with him a lot, but he was usually on his laptop or his tablet, scrunching his face occasionally and sighing. He showed his age when Yancy asked what he was up to. “Nothing, it’s fine,” he said. He was probably roleplaying as a vampire or dragonlord or something. Yancy sighed.

“Lay still,” Chuck murmured, one night, and then he slid Yancy’s pajama pants down and smiled at his cock - sad and limp. Not for long, though, not with Chuck licking it with his tongue and circling his thumb against Yancy’s prostate. Chuck didn’t tease, this time, just did everything with his mouth Yancy liked and needed. He came in hard, short bursts and had to close his eyes so he could hold onto it for a moment longer.

He moved, and Chuck put a hand on his chest. “Nope,” he said. “I wanted to. You don’t need-”

“Oh,” Yancy said. “But-” Chuck just shook his head.

“You’re a real fucking idiot, you know?” he said. “I want to be with you.” He put his hand over the immobilizer and cast Yancy had that held the arm at a right angle and strapped to his abdomen.

“I know,” Yancy said. “I do too, that’s why-”

Chuck nodded, and Yancy leaned over and kissed him.

Herc grinned at him, finally triumphant as they shoved his arm through the newly created hole in the tux shirt. Chuck began to strap him back into the immobilizer.  
“Much better.”

Yancy looked at himself in the mirror. There were dark circles under his eyes and he looked a little saggy - need to drink more water, he told himself. And you could get your ass on a treadmill and at least walk.

“We should check on the flower dog,” Herc said. Chuck rolled his eyes.

Sasha had put a sweater on Max and then festooned it with flowers. Max seemed confused by this development and looked up at Yancy with pleading eyes. “Naw, you’re good, little dude,” Yancy said, and leaned down and pet his head. “You look good.”

“You should go with your brother, now,” Sasha said to him. “You need to be in front before we walk down the aisle.” Chuck made a huffing sound. He had on a purple hydrangea colored vest to match Sasha’s dress. It was absolutely gorgeous on her, especially with her hair down and cascading over the back. Aleksis had an expression that was both beaming and possessive, and he even growled at Yancy slightly when he caught him looking at her.

Yancy understood. Chuck looked very nice in his tuxedo, even if the purple didn’t quite compliment his hair.

“Mako is going to kill you,” Raleigh said, when he and Yancy arranged themselves at the makeshift altar. “Also, did you cut the arm off-”

“Herc’ll take care of it,” Yancy said. He ruffled Raleigh’s hair. “You’re going to get married!”

Raleigh’s eyes were wide as he considered this, and then he nodded his head.

“You won’t fuck it up,” Tendo added.

“No, because you guys fucked it up,” Raleigh replied. “Oh.” He smiled at Yancy and Tendo.

“We got you,” Tendo said.

“It was mostly Sasha,” Yancy added.

“Yeah, I figured,” Raleigh replied, and then he shifted as the music began for the processional.

The Shatterdome was full of all of the techs, the crew, the support staff - none of the dignitaries and officials Mako thought they needed to invite. There were a lot of people but it still felt...close.

Raleigh began to tear up as soon as Sasha came down the aisle. There was a collective “aaaaaw” when Chuck came with Max, who had embraced his role as flower dog and was practically strutting. Herc was beaming as he waited to perform his role as officiant.

For a moment, Mako looked pissed when she appeared from behind the curtains that had been arranged at the other side of the aisle. Then she saw the attendees and Raleigh - who was flat out crying by then and hell, there really wasn’t a dry eye in the house even with Chuck doing his best to maintain his manly visage.

The dress was perfect, too, soft and flowing but without all of the fluff and pouf that Yancy had seen in the magazines Raleigh looked at. She looked strong, and badass, and also beautiful. Yancy smiled and wiped at his eyes.

Yancy sniffled as Herc read through the brief but very lovely ceremony.

“And you may now kiss the bride,” Herc said.

Raleigh remained frozen, smiling, with tears leaking down his cheeks.

“Dude,” Yancy said. “Go on.” He nudged him with his foot.

“Oh,” Raleigh said, grinned at Mako, leaned in, and kissed her hard. Definitely _not_ a church kiss, but they’d also just printed out Herc’s officiant certificate that morning, so no one was in danger of going to hell.

Everyone blew bubbles for the recessional, and then Sasha guided them over to the photographer she had hired. “Just a few quick pictures,” she said. “We want mostly candids.”

Mako looked at Sasha, who gave her one of those wide grins, and then Mako nodded her head. “All right, let’s just figure out how to position you and your, uh, thing, there-” the photographer began, and nodded at Yancy.

“No,” said Mako. “Do not worry about it.”

Yancy smiled at her and she nodded her head and then smiled, brilliant, radiant. She carried the smile into the picture with Raleigh, who looked his usual puppy dog self. “You’re married!” Yancy said, as they were supposed to be staring meaningfully into each other’s eyes and radiating love. Raleigh cracked up and tilted his head back, and Mako smiled too.

“You had better have got that,” Sasha said to the photographer. “Now one of this one and Chuck and the dog.” She gave Yancy a smile that could only mean one thing - he glanced over at Herc, who had a distant expression on his face and a sappy smile. Yancy inhaled and then smiled himself.

“Shoulda got one of those pain tablets from you, mate,” Chuck said through his smile as they posed, hip to hip and angled out towards the camera.

“Hold hands!” Raleigh said. “Aaaaawwww.” Max barked.

* * *

 

“The punch, I spiked it,” Aleksis said to him in Russian as he took a cup off of the table where it was set on for the reception. It was meant to be the bride and groom’s signature cocktail, a blue that matched Gipsy Danger and Mako’s hair. “Was supposed to be wine spritzer, or something. No fun there - we put in some vodka. Figured you should know, with your pills.”

“Right,” Yancy said, and smiled at him. “Well, this will be a party.” Aleksis grinned at him. He debated telling Herc and Chuck, then decided it against it - the cocktail was only out for an hour or so, and besides, they had already gone to the bar to get themselves beer.

He just went over to the appetizer spread, primarily dim sum. It reminded him of the return meal and he glanced around for Newt’s new underworld friend - did anyone think that that was going to end well? He saw him in the corner with a bald woman and Sasha. _Of course,_ Yancy thought. Wasn’t like Pentecost just happened to have the phone number of illegal kaiju parts dealers in his cellphone. Sasha raised a glass to him and nodded.

“She really pulled it together,” Herc said. He had already removed his jacket, vest, and bow tie and rolled his sleeves up. He still looked incredibly uncomfortable.

Chuck had maintained the vest, but barely, and it hung open against his sides. “I helped,” he said.

“I am sure you did,” Yancy replied.

“I did,” Chuck said. “Stole Mori’s iPad, copied her Wedding Songs playlist.”

“Well, look at that,” Yancy said. “I didn’t know you were capable of espionage.”

“You asked her to walk Max, didn’t you?” Herc asked. Chuck sighed. “M’gonna get more beers - you want a beer, Yancy?” He shook his head.

“What happened to getting drunk and embarrassing?” Chuck asked.

“All in good time,” Yancy said. He didn’t want to peak too soon. “Besides, they both took it surprisingly well.”

“True,” Chuck said. “Nobody better fucking surprise me with a wedding.” Yancy arched an eyebrow, and before he could interrogate this, Mako came over to them. “We’ll see about taking it…” Chuck said.

“I should thank you,” Mako said. “This is wonderful.”

“Didn’t have anything to do with it,” Chuck said, and Yancy nodded. Mako could be tricksy when she wanted to be.

“I was getting too caught up in...I believe it was my way of...not having anything to do,” she said, and nodded slowly.

“Well,” Yancy said.

“Tell me about it,” Chuck said. Yancy pressed his lips together slightly - Chuck sounded legitimately grumpy. Not that that was really new, but…he was definitely responsible for Chuck’s recent boredom.

“You’re welcome,” Yancy said, and grinned at Mako. This was why wedding’s were terrible - any built up event, really. Emotions ran too high, everything was amplified.

“The punch is very good,” Mako said. “You should have some.” Her grin broadened and there was a slight tinge of blue to her mouth. “I must go and say hello to some others.”

 _Oh, shit,_ Yancy thought, as Mako grabbed another punch on her way over to the Crimson Typhoon team. It was too late for an intervention, though, they’d be seated soon enough.

“Well, that was all right,” Herc said, and handed Chuck a beer. “Wish they had pints. Too messy, he says.”

“Aleksis spiked the punch with vodka,” Yancy said.

“Oh boy,” Herc said. Chuck set his glass down and went to go and get a cup. Yancy and Herc just watched him.

“What? Thought it was just wine and seven-up,” he said, chugged the glass down, and grinned at Yancy. “S’not bad.” Herc shook his head.

A waiter came over and asked them to sit for dinner - Yancy and Chuck were next to each other at a round table just to the right of the bride and groom’s sweetheart table. Raleigh looked a little confused, but then Mako leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. It was surreal, for a moment - his dumb ass little brother just got married. He and his dumb ass little brother had detonated a nuclear device in another dimension. The first seemed more improbable, but it shouldn’t, Raleigh was just the sort of puppy that people wanted to take care of and keep around for cuddles.

Yancy picked at his food. He hadn’t been really hungry since the surgery and the amount of noise in the room suddenly seemed oppressive. He reached for one of his painkillers and took it down with some wine. He caught Herc’s eye when he did that and then tore a piece from his steak and gave it to Max, dutifully waiting between he and Chuck with his flower dog sweater still intact.

“I think he likes the sweater,” Yancy said. “We could get him a really cute sweater-”

“Dog doesn’t need a sweater,” Chuck said.

“What if he gets cold?” Yancy asked. Chuck narrowed his eyes at him.

Yancy shuddered when Herc stood and tapped his spoon against a champagne glass that had, at some point, been placed in front of all of them. “Oi!” he said. Several people involuntarily saluted. “Now, I did the ceremony bit, which means I leave the hard part to someone else. Mrs. Kaidanovsky?”

Sasha stood. “I remember Mako, first time that you came to Vladivostock with Marshall Pentecost. We took walk, and you tell me the only words you knew in English - _I am going to be a Jaeger pilot. I am going to close the Breach._ And now look,” she said, and gestured her arm around the room, “You did. You are the hero. And you got the princess.” Raleigh blushed at this, but it was met with appreciative laughter. Chuck nudged Yancy under the table. “Stacker would be so happy for both of you,” Sasha said. “We are all happy.” She raised her glass, then sipped and sat down.

“Well, that’s good,” Yancy said, standing awkwardly and almost tripping over Max. “Now I don’t have to cover any of the feelings-y stuff.” He paused, giving everyone a moment to laugh. “Some of you were there, but for those of you who were not, let’s just say - Raleigh’s dogged and determined courting of Mako was something to watch and, uh, potentially wager sums of money on.” Yancy glanced sideways over at Tendo, who shook his head. “But Raleigh knew. Sometimes you just do, and, uh, I’m just happy we’re all here, together, with you and to wish you the best.” He raised his glass. It was a bit disjointed - and there were plenty of embarrassing anecdotes he could have included - but it seemed to work.

He sat down and felt relieved. Herc was looking at him, though, and really, Yancy got it. Everyone was excited - wedding, love, flower dog! But he wasn’t sure why he was expected to get everything in his own life all neatly settled just because his younger brother was getting married. He didn’t even know if he was going to be able to walk in the next few years.

Yancy quickly drank another glass of champagne as everyone finished their meal, then grabbed Chuck when the DJ asked “all the other” happy couples to come and join Mako and Raleigh on the dance floor.

He was surprised when he found himself leaning in and resting his head on Chuck’s shoulder after they maneuvered around his arm brace. Chuck put a hand between his shoulder blades.

The most embarrassing thing they wound up contributing was dancing - and you would think, being Jaeger pilots, they’d have some coordination, but as soon as there was music...Chuck jerked around next to him, oblivious and happy, while Herc awkwardly bopped his head along with Yancy. Raleigh stumbled around Mako, who still maintained dignity and self-respect by just swaying. Or maybe it was the punch. The only ones who had any skills who Tendo and Newt - and they were more than happy to oblige with a lengthy break dancing showdown that Yancy thought Tendo might have won.

They danced and talked and ate - first cake, then late night dessert snacks - until the alcohol ran out and it was nearly two in the morning. Then Aleksis scooped up Raleigh, who protested, mostly by pouting and mildly punching him, and Mako followed after him, grinning. The rest of the surviving members of the party trooped after them to where their room had been wrapped up with a white ribbon. They were departing for Seychelles for two weeks on the beach in the morning.

Aleksis kicked the door in and basically tossed Raleigh inside. “Breakfast is all in there for you,” Sasha said. Mako kissed her on either cheek, then closed the door behind her.

“C’mon, bug,” Yancy said. “Time for bed.”

Chuck pouted, very similar to how Raleigh had, and Yancy just shook his head at him. When he coerced Chuck into bed he leaned in and kissed Yancy, hard, and Yancy just stroked his hair and kissed his forehead.

“Sleep,” Yancy said. “Tomorrow.”

“Be hungover tomorrow,” Chuck said.

“Then I will bring you breakfast, get you coffee, and give you a Lortab,” Yancy murmured.

“Too good to me,” Chuck said. Max barked, neglected, so Chuck scooped Max up - freed, at some point, from most of his flowers but not his sweater. “Aw, sorry, Max,” Chuck said. They engaged in a battle that was a lot similar to the one early in the day between Herc, Chuck, Yancy and the tuxedo shirt. Yancy laughed as Max sighed, helped Chuck with the hand he had available, and then tossed the sweater in the corner. “There’s my boy, look at you, handsome, weren’t you a good flower dog! He was a good flower dog, wasn’t he, Yance?” He wiggled Max at Yancy, paws first.

“Oh my god, go to sleep,” Yancy said, but he kissed Max right on the lips.

“Gross,” Chuck said.

“Don’t even get me started, Hansen,” Yancy said. He turned their light off.

He had, he estimated, a minute of peace as Max settled himself in. Then Chuck said, “Yancy?”

“Oh, no,” Yancy said. “I marry off my little brother, you don’t need to take up his mantle-”

“His what?”

“His role.”

“Raleigh used to bother you while you tried to sleep?” Chuck asked. Completely innocent, the ginger shit.

“You have no fucking idea,” Yancy said.

“When you guys were in bunk beds?” Chuck asked. Yancy felt bad, because he was being really adorable. Still.

“We had bunk beds in Anchorage,” Yancy said. Chuck laughed, big and full.

“That had to have been some kind of joke on Pentecost’s part,” he replied.

“I have no doubt,” Yancy replied.

Chuck curled into him and Max curled in between them. _One big happy fucking family,_ Yancy thought.

* * *

 

Two days later he sat in with Dr. Kim, Dr. Ganesan and Chuck. “The best hospital in the world for the bilateral hip replacement is in New York,” Dr. Ganesan said. “Would you be amenable to that?”

“How long?” Yancy asked.

“Six months recovery, probably,” Dr. Ganesan said. “Our colleague, Dan Ritter, would manage your care. You’d probably be ready to have surgery in one or two weeks so you can rehabilitate everything together.”

Yancy glanced over at Chuck, then looked at the doctors. They both smiled and ducked out. “So, uh-”

“Oh, fuck, Becket, you think you have to ask?” Chuck said. “I’m coming.”

“Well, I don’t want you to-”

“You are…” Chuck just shook his head and looked a little sad.

“I don’t want you to think you have to be tied down with some decrepit, washed up-” Yancy began.

“Oi, you were hardly decrepit last night,” Chuck said. “And you’ll only be better with that leg taken care of.” He smiled at him. Yancy must not have looked completely convinced. “Goddamnit, you’re going to make me admit how long I’d had a fucking crush on you-”

“You had a crush on me?” Yancy asked. Everyone had crushes on Raleigh. All of the articles gushed about Raleigh and his smile, his abs, his fluffy hair and enthusiasm for life.

“Fuck, yes,” Chuck said. “You’re the lead pilot, you were responsible for…” _It figured,_ Yancy thought, _that Chuck Hansen would have a competency kink._ Yancy smiled at the thought of Chuck with his Gipsy Danger figurines and poster.

“OK,” Yancy said.

“I’ve never been in a non-Rim City, anyway,” Chuck said, and then he blushed. “PlusIhavebeenacceptedbyColumbia.”

“What was that?” Yancy asked.

Chuck glanced off to the side and away. “Not normal admissions, I mean, I just talked to them in the office and sent them my Jaeger Academy stuff and they made some calls and I had to do a bunch of paperwork and take a bunch of tests and they said I could come.” Chuck scowling and cursing at his tablet all the time these past two weeks suddenly made sense.

Yancy couldn’t help but grin. “That’s an Ivy League school, you know.”

“Yeah,” Chuck said, and he scratched the back of his head. Yancy kissed him, this time, and then he laughed a bit and nuzzled his face into Chuck’s neck, inhaled the leather of his jacket and the soft smell of the aftershave he used.

“Look at you, all smart and fancy,” he said.

“Uh, well...we’ll see,” Chuck said.

“None of that,” Yancy replied.

* * *

 

“I think I would like New York,” Mako said, when Chuck and Yancy explained their plans over Skype. Yancy glanced over at Chuck, who looked just as confused as he was.

“Yeah,” Raleigh said. “Center of the universe, right?”

“Wait - you’re coming?” Chuck asked.

Mako glanced at Raleigh and they had one of those eerie silent exchanges that Yancy thought was only possible when you drifted with someone. “Yancy’s recovery will be complex,” Mako said. “ Also, we will be able to represent PPDC at the UN. And you will be busy with class, Chuck.” Yancy narrowed his eyes - so Chuck had told Mako before him, but then again...that made sense, since he probably wanted to share it with someone who didn’t have a lot invested in things.

“I’m sure we can find apartments on the same floor, or something,” Raleigh said. “Besides, you’ll need somewhere to put Max when you, uh...you know.” He grinned at Yancy, who nodded his head. He also knew it would take exactly one week before Raleigh arrived at their apartment with some sort of hopeless looking puppy in a box. Puppies in a box.

 _Fuck, why not?_ Yancy thought.


	5. Chapter 5

“You like it alright?” Yancy asked. They’d picked the apartment out, sight unseen - Chuck had wanted a place midway between Columbia and the hospital where Yancy’s surgery and rehab would be, but Yancy had won out by pointing out that Chuck would be spending four years up at Columbia. It was bright and airy, if a little small.

Yancy didn’t even want to think about how much the rent was. Or how much he had spent on getting shit for the apartment - though it had been the most delightful four hours he had spent, just pointing and clicking. Why yes, I would like a garlic crusher, thank you for recommending that, Crate & Barrel! Should I monogram my sheets? Decisions, decisions.

And, of course, somewhere in the back of his brain there were different thoughts - you’ll be arguing about how didn’t clean the garlic out of the garlic crusher, who didn’t wash the sheets like they were supposed to. Nevermind the actual Real Issues that were looming on the horizon.

“Yeah, it’s…” Chuck rubbed at the back of his neck. Max was moving from box to box, which either contained their meager possessions - more like paltry, if it weren’t for Chuck’s new library - or those delivered from the various retailers Yancy had ordered from. “It’s my first place.”

“Mine too, pretty much,” Yancy said. “Which is actually kind of pathetic.”

“I really think Pentecost made you bunk with Raleigh as an ongoing joke,” Chuck said.

Yancy closed the distance between them and kissed him on the lips. “You would know,” he said. “You drifted with him. Open the fridge.”

“What?” Chuck asked, and then parsed out the sentences. He grinned when he saw the bottle of champagne that Yancy had their moving consultant leave chilling - he was still puzzling over how, only months after the apocalypse was averted, people could seriously offer up their services as moving consultants. _Oh, what do you do? Moving consultant - you? I’m a former Jaeger pilot, fuck off._ Still, the apartment was clean, all of the stuff was here, the payments went through correctly and they weren’t locked out when they arrived.

Chuck popped the cork and, then, because he was Chuck, sipped right from the bottle before passing it to Yancy. “Don’t wrinkle your face at me. You got any glasses?”

“In one of these boxes there should be stemless wine glasses,” Yancy replied, sucked from the bottle, and handed it back to Chuck.

“The fuck did you buy stemless wine glasses for?” Chuck asked.

“Drinking wine,” Yancy replied. Chuck shook his head at him, as though he couldn’t believe Yancy was the sort of person who would consider this kind of thing necessary. “At least I didn’t get separate champagne flutes-”

“So at least you’re sort of sensible,” Chuck said, but he shook his head. “Can’t wait to see what are in the rest of these boxes.”

“I wanted to make sure we’re well provisioned,” Yancy replied. “Besides...at least I didn’t shop with Raleigh.” Chuck shook his head. Max moaned at a box and scratched at it. “That probably has his toys and stuff.”

“I packed his toys and stuff,” Chuck replied. A little defensively. Max’s pawing intensified, and he looked up at Chuck expectantly. Max had handled things really well, even with their long, arduous flight. Then again, being a dog and flying first class was pretty awesome - especially being a hero dog like Max. Everyone wanted to pet him and tell him how great he was, and, enjoying his role as proxy yet again, Max wiggled his tail and obliged while Chuck got drunk on complimentary champagne.

Chuck had been concerned Max wouldn’t adapt well to being in a new apartment. Yancy tried to assuage him with how well Max had handled his European adventure, but Chuck was still fretting. In a more positive part of the back of his brain - where the thoughts were that he knew he shouldn’t dare to hope or think - Yancy thought, _he’ll be the one insisting we take the kid to doctor even when it’s just a virus…_

“I thought I’d get him some new stuff for his new home,” Yancy said. “You’re getting a bunch of new stuff.” He nodded to the boxes from several retailers. Chuck had picked up some clothes in Europe, but a lot of his daily wardrobe was still PPDC standard issue.

“Fine,” Chuck said. He drank some more champagne and went over to relieve Max. “You bought him a house?” He asked, pulling out the first box. “With leopard print?”

“It’s spots,” Yancy replied. “And it’s a [Luxury High-End Double Pet House](http://www.amazon.com/Luxury-High-end-Double-Pet-House/dp/B009521DBY/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1385405714&sr=8-4&keywords=indoor+dog+house).” Chuck had a blank look, a dangerous blank look, where he seemed to be reconsidering a lot of his recent life choices. “So he can go in it when we’re…you know. Because you don’t want him to watch.” Chuck closed his eyes and just nodded.

Max was doing his part to try and tip the rest of the box over - Yancy had bought him some squeaky friends as well. And a sweater. Hopefully Chuck didn’t notice that just yet.

“Let’s set the house up,” Yancy said, finishing off the bottle of champagne. “And then go and see what we can do about the bed.” Chuck finally grinned back at him.

_Stop it,_ Yancy said to himself. _Just stop it._ But it was hard not to _it,_ considering that he was scheduled for surgery in five days. Chuck started classes in ten. Men and women would literally be crawling all over him, wanting to get a taste of the famous Jaeger pilot. Yancy had debated getting Raleigh to trail him, but then vetoed it. That would really be paranoid.

“That sounds really good,” Chuck said, and tucked the box the dog house was in under his arm.

* * *

They explored - Yancy wanted to see what Brooklyn was like, if hipsters were actually real, and whether there were entire shops that were devoted to the sale of macaroons. They unpacked, and Chuck mocked most of Yancy’s choices - he didn’t understand throw pillows, or why they would need like wall stickers that worked like chalkboards to write reminders on. “Not like I’m going to forget that we need milk,” Chuck said. Yancy would pull this out every time Chuck did, in fact, forget the milk.

They helped Mako and Raleigh shop when it became apparent that they had forgot several items that were necessary for living in an apartment - shower curtains, which the apartment had not provided, items necessary for cooking for yourself, a mattress pad. “I just don’t understand how you know about this stuff,” Raleigh said.

“Because...I took care of things,” Yancy said. “And did research on the Internet.”

“Huh,” Raleigh said. He glanced at Mako, like that was her responsibility. She just shook her head at him.

_Look at us being domestic!_ Yancy thought as he made pancakes and Chuck put the coffee machine back together after it had spurt hot water out at him instead of coffee. _Look at us taking care of things together._ He was feeling a little off, definitely towards the giddy end of things, because of nerves over his impending surgery.

What if something happened - anesthesia wasn’t foolproof and he could wind up being some kind of vegetable. Would Raleigh have the fortitude to pull the plug? Or they could just amputate his leg, decide it was too fucked to save. Or he could get another flesh eating bacteria during his stay in the hospital, and maybe this time it might eat something important - like his dick. None of these were great outcomes.

Not getting the surgery was also not a great outcome. This was the shit they never talked about, in the movies, how the hero had worn down all of his cartilage and compacted his spine and could decorate a Christmas tree with all of his empty bottles of Vicodin. Hell, in the movies, those guys got right back up, grabbed their gun, and continued on with things.

Three days before his surgery Chuck asked him to come to his mandatory meeting with Academic Services. This was probably to keep im from being as much of an asshole as he could be, because he didn’t see the point in the meeting. Yancy didn’t say much as they walked - after all, Chuck was going to college. Yancy was going to the orthopaedic rehab unit.

“Yancy,” Chuck said, as they walked, “you’re in the best hands.”

“Was I saying all that out loud?” Yancy asked. Chuck looked concerned at this.

“Uh, no - you were chewing at your cheek. What else would you be nervous about?”

Yancy let a slow smile spread across his face - look at Chuck, paying attention to things like that! Weren’t they an adorable couple? Just like the Internet websites said. Though there were others that debated whether or not they were actually dating. They seemed to take the position that the two of them were just really dedicated trolls, which...actually probable.

“It’s not gonna be easy,” Chuck said. He sighed.

“I know, I just...last time, I didn’t really have time to prepare.” Yancy fiddled with his immobilizer cast. He was really sick of having his one arm strapped to him.

“Yeah,” Chuck said. “Anticipation never…” He shrugged, and his face settled into a scowl. He was just miffed that Columbia thought he needed someone to help him.  
Yancy tried to point out it was probably because Chuck hadn’t technically even gone to high school, but he wasn’t having it. “I can pilot a fucking Jaeger,” he said earlier. “I think I can manage college.”

Yancy tried a different tact when Chuck started bitching as they entered the building. “It’s probably going to be really weird, you know. College.”

“How?” Chuck asked, completely serious.

“In Europe, you know how everyone wanted to take pictures of us?” Chuck nodded. “Well, your classmates aren’t going to be all that different. Might be the ones who write the comments on the websites about which one of us have the better ass. Or watch the porn.” Chuc grimaced, but, hell, some of them might write fan fiction where Chuck got spitroasted by the Beckets - which, whatever floats your boat, but Raleigh would never be into that.

“Uh,” Chuck said. “Why can’t I just, like, go to class?”

“Well...you’re a celebrity.”

“Movie stars go to college all the time,” Chuck said. Yancy decided it would not help to tell him about how the woman who played Hermione Granger was teased at her Ivy League University, with people shouting _10 points for Gryffindor!_ when she spoke in class.

Chuck’s Academic Support Services Coordinator was named Lily, was definitely awkward, and was younger than Yancy. She seemed a bit disarmed by him when he shook her hand.

“I’m his helper animal,” Yancy supplied. Chuck scowled - he still didn’t understand why one of the PPDC doctor’s affirmations wasn’t sufficient to get Max classified as his helper animal for the purposes of New York State.

“Dumbass is my…” Chuck replied. Yancy smiled as he sort of choked on the word. Despite several exchanges of _I love you_ , some even prompted by Chuck, despite Chuck affirming that he wanted to stay with Yancy through his arduous recovery, Chuck still had difficulty admitting their classification to others. “Boyfriend.”

“Adults say partner,” Yancy replied.

“What, like we compete in the waltz?” Chuck asked.

The meeting was more productive than they could have hoped from that beginning. Lily convinced Chuck that he probably did need some assistance adjusting to collegiate life and he seemed to accept that she could offer this assistance. It only happened once she admitted she was doing a Master’s in Higher Education - the myriad types of degrees people could get, and decided to get, despite the apocalypse looming, absolutely fascinated Yancy.

“Do you mind if I ask…” Lily began, at the end of their meeting, “um, do you have any plans?”

“I’m getting both my hip joints replaced,” Yancy said. Lily grinned at him - this was the problem with being sarcastic and glib, neatly distilled, you try to tell the truth, and…

“He actually is,” Chuck said. “In two days.”

“Oh, well, that’s a lot to...uh,” she said. “Will you be-”

“My brother and his girlfriend-”

“Wife,” Chuck corrected.

_Christ,_ Yancy thought, “Wife are here to help out.”

“They live across the hall,” Chuck said. “Mostly gonna let the dog out.”

Yancy opened his mouth - but it wasn’t the time or the place. Chuck and Raleigh had been circling each other again. Yancy was just waiting for one of them to piss on him.

“Well, we’ll meet again after your first week of the semester,” Lily said. “I mean, if you want…”

“Yeah,” Chuck said. Yancy kicked him in the ankle. “Thank you.”

Once they were outside Yancy said, “Introductory Russian?”

“Yeah,” Chuck replied. “Academic Advisor said I should try a language and maybe pick one I haven’t like, already tried to learn.” Yancy nodded - Chuck was proficient enough in Mandarin and Japanese, since Striker had been on loan in both Hong Kong and Tokyo for periods even before Sydney was shuttered. “Figured you could tell me all the embarrassing things to say.”

“Yes,” Yancy replied, and grinned. With great power came great responsibility. “Provided you trust me, of course.”

Chuck narrowed his eyes. “Maybe not at that,” he said.

* * *

“So,” Raleigh said, “you’ll be in the hospital for two weeks...before you’re moved to the rehab facility, how long did they say you would be in a surgical ward before they move you to the ortho floor?” He glanced up at Yancy from his tablet and smiled at him - though it was incredibly strained. Yancy nudged his foot against Raleigh’s and smiled slightly.

“Two days,” Yancy said.

“Are you sure?” Raleigh asked, clicking through the calendar or schedule or whatever he had set up.

“Why don’t you just call the surgeon?” Chuck asked. “You’ve got him on a speed dial.”

“He said I could call with questions,” Raleigh replied.

“Yeah, but I don’t think-”

“He wanted to make sure we were confident with how things were going to go,” Raleigh replied.

“-he meant that you could move in up his ass,” Chuck finished.

Raleigh turned and narrowed his eyes at Chuck. Yancy sighed and ran his hand through his hair.

Raleigh took the high road and ignored the comment. Chuck opened his mouth, like he wanted to say something else, then went back to his own tablet, where he was downloading all of the books and articles he would need for his classes.

“So they’re going to take you out of the immobilizer and put you into a soft cast that you can do rehab for all three together? Have they given you the name of the physical therapist-” Raleigh said.

“Rals, we’re gonna do all right,” Yancy interrupted. “They’re the best in the world.”

Raleigh frowned and scrolled his finger over his tablet. “Well, it would just be nice-”

“This isn’t the sort of shit you can plan,” Chuck interjected. He instantly widened his eyes when he realized what, exactly, he had said and who he had said it to. This contrite expression only lasted for a second, though.

“It should be,” Raleigh said. “They’re not making this up - they should know what they’re doing.”

Mako turned from the crossword puzzle that she was working on and managed to simultaneously give Raleigh and Chuck a determined glare. “You are both being difficult,” Mako said. Her voice was soft but deep. Yancy really appreciated her in these instances. She had a steely core, but she was also quiet, and she knew how to marshal it to command respect. “Chuck is right because there are things we cannot plan, Raleigh, but it is very good you wish to keep informed and organized. And they do allow more than one person in the room at a time, you know.”

Yancy considered this. He had never sniped at Mako, or about Mako, like this - even when Raleigh had fallen completely head over heels for her and had filled their Drift with what basically amounted to a notebook full of _Mr. Mako Mori_ and _Raleigh Mori 4ever_ doodles and plans for the names of their eventual children. Was Raleigh’s proprietary attitude towards him related to how he had almost died? The fact they had drifted together? Or was it something to do with how he still didn’t really like Chuck?

“Do you two need a Get Along shirt?” Yancy asked.

“No,” Raleigh said, and look horrified at the thought. Chuck narrowed his eyes.

“Their parents made them a shirt, when they were young,” Mako said. “And you put both of them in it, only one arm each through the sleeves. They were not allowed out until they reconciled their differences.”

“That is the dumbest thing-”

“It only worked because we were fighting over who got to play with a truck, or-” Raleigh began, and then he understood. “Oh.”

“Oh, what?” Chuck asked. “Because you don’t want to share?”

“Yes, Chuck,” Yancy said. Chuck made a grumbling sound and looked over at Raleigh who was doing his best to look chastised by Mako but who still looked like he would punch Chuck in the face again if he could. “I’ll go and get a shirt,” Yancy said, and he stood.

“OK, look, I just…” Raleigh said, and stood as well. Yancy began walking into the bedroom, allowing Raleigh to follow him. “Oh, this is nice,” Raleigh said.

Chuck, after years of sleeping in Shatterdome cots in military sheets and blankets, had only shown interest in household shopping when it came to bedding. They had a huge, thick duvet with a striped cover, more pillows than Yancy thought were strictly necessary, and several blankets. There was also the Max house in the corner. “Is that leopard print?”

“It’s polka dot,” Yancy said. He pat the bed. Raleigh sat down next to him. Yancy wrapped his arm around him. “Rals…”

“I just…” Raleigh said. “I should never have-”

“We talked about that, a lot,” Yancy said. “I would have done it no matter what you said.”

“But if I didn’t want to - in the Drift...I don’t know, I guess I just didn’t understand…” No, he hadn’t, but that was because Yancy hadn’t let Raleigh sit in with him and his doctors back then. And he might not have been wholly honest with what he reported to Raleigh after the fact - but that was only because he didn’t want him to worry.

“I didn’t, either,” Yancy said. “Mostly because I never thought...that this was something tangible, I guess.”

“I know,” Raleigh said, and they did know that each other had thought that, but they’d also never vocalized it before.

“They’ve done this before, like you said,” Yancy said to him. “They do have a plan. It’s not like...you know, let’s put Yancy back together again.” Raleigh grimaced slightly.

“Still, it won’t be like-”

“It’s been a long time since I thought everything would be fine,” Yancy said. _Please just let me keep my dick,_ he thought, inwardly. “On the other hand, Chuck-”

“Is going to start college, and when is he going to have time to visit then?” Raleigh asked. “And he’ll be meeting all of these new people and…”

“You don’t think he’s…” Yancy wasn’t sure how to vocalize this thought. Raleigh was being the protective brother, he knew. Just like how his hackles had been raised when Chuck called Mako a bitch.

“Well, he’s, what, twenty-one?” Raleigh asked. “I remember when I was-”

“Chuck went to Jaeger Academy when he was twelve,” Yancy replied. He felt a little defensive even though he knew that Raleigh was just looking out for him. “And-”

“You’re old,” Raleigh said.

Yancy inhaled, closed his eyes for a moment, and then opened them again. “I’m not that old,” he said. “Also, isn’t Mako, like, twenty?”

“Oh,” Raleigh said. “But...Mako is serious.”

“More serious Chuck?” Yancy asked. It was really a rhetorical question, since Mako was more serious than Chuck. She had a sense of humor, but it was a bit more subtle and also, he suspected, more ironic.

“I just don’t want you to be hurt,” Raleigh said, “and get hurt - but get, like, all distracted, because he gives good head, or whatever.” Raleigh reddened, slightly.

“The fuck is wrong with you?” Chuck asked from somewhere beyond the door - and, why yes, Yancy had left it open.

“You were listening in?” Raleigh asked.

Mako appeared in the doorway, possibly slightly hip checked into view. She blushed, slightly. “My apologies,” she said. “But-”

“C’mere,” Yancy said. “I would, uh, extend my other arm to invite you in - Raleigh, hold your arms out.” Raleigh frowned, so Yancy elbowed him with his good arm. Raleigh held his arms out.

Yancy pulled Raleigh down with him. Proving he was right, Chuck climbed into the bed and tossed Max into Raleigh’s face. Mako giggled and then slid in next to Raleigh. “His balls are on your face,” she said.

“Yes,” Raleigh said, from behind Max’s balls, “I am aware of that.”

“See?” Yancy said. “This is all right, isn’t it?” He leaned and kissed Chuck’s forehead, then leaned in the opposite direction and kissed Raleigh’s forehead. Mako shook her head at him slightly and he nodded. After all, she probably knew - all too well - where his mouth had been.

“How many painkillers did you take tonight, mate?” Chuck asked.

“As many as the bottle said I was allowed,” Yancy replied. And a Xanax, but the bottle said he was allowed one of those as well - and it was the night before his surgery, so…

“Where did you find a bed this big?” Mako asked.

“What’s wrong with our bed?” Raleigh asked.

“I wish for more space to spread out,” Mako said. “After the cuddling, of course.”

“Oh, fuck, that is so much more than I need to know,” Chuck said.

“Herc never told you how babies were made, did he?” Yancy asked.

“Uh, do not remind me-”

“I bet that was the best the talk ever,” Raleigh said. He pulled Max’s face close to his own. “Did he give it to you, little man? Because you could still make babies-”

“Little wrinkly babies,” Yancy said.

“Go get your own puppies,” Chuck replied.

“Do not encourage him,” Mako replied. Yancy still had four days before he was going to owe Tendo $100, because he had bet that Raleigh would have an adorable puppy of his own in one week. Tendo had only thought longer because of Mako’s sensible influence and the fact that she would have to go to report at the UN after a week, leaving Raleigh with free time after that to acquire said adorable puppy.

They laid there for a moment, and then Chuck said, “This is real nice and all...but...you know, given that, tomorrow...maybe you two could head back across the hall? Take Max?”

“Ew,” said Raleigh. “I mean, not...you, ew, and just...you know, with my brother.”

“Yeah, got that,” Chuck said.

* * *

“Was that a bit much?” Chuck asked.

“Possibly,” Yancy said. He gave Chuck a big grin and shrugged his shoulder, then turned around so that Chuck could take the immobilizer off. Yancy guided him back with his good hand and kissed him, worked his lips slowly against Chuck’s and gently pressed his tongue into his mouth. “Chuck…”

“I know,” Chuck said. Yancy was glad that he didn’t have to go through the whole thing. “Well, not really, I mean, I never had a brother. Max doesn’t really count.”

Yancy had to meet his eyes to see if he was serious or not, and he chuckled a bit when he realized that Chuck was a little bit. He kissed him again.

They slowly undressed one another. Yancy ran his hand over Chuck’s skin, mouthed over his skin, flicked his tongue around his nipple and then trailed his mouth down. “Yancy, fuck!” Chuck said as Yancy mouthed over the top of his cock and then licked around it. “Goddamnit.” He ran his fingers through Yancy’s hair and Yancy took him down, inch by inch, teasing his tongue around all of the spots that he knew made Chuck squirm.

He drew the process, slowly building Chuck towards orgasm. Yancy slid his thumb back and massaged and then pressed harder as he increased the speed of his mouth. “Yancy, that’s so good, I want...yeah, fuck, fuck, there!” Yancy took his release easily, let it slide down his mouth, and then kissed his way back up and then slowly kissed Chuck’s mouth.

Chuck ran his hands through Yancy’s hair and yanked him in one direction - not hard, but enough to make Yancy moan. “God, I want to fuck you,” Chuck said. Yancy nodded, moved against Chuck has he opened and teased him just as much as Yancy had done to him.

“Chuck, yeah, there - you know, ugh, ugh…” Chuck slid against his prostate, over and over, and then hooked his fingers into him. “Fuuck!” Chuck massaged his balls and then slid his fingers out.

It took a few minutes to position him. “See,” Chuck said, pulling a pillow from the stack, “this is why it’s good to have so many pillows.”

“Mmm, all right,” Yancy agreed. He wrapped his good leg around Chuck and sighed as he entered him - it was easy, now, and Chuck felt amazing as he thrust into Yancy.

“So tight, yeah?” Chuck said, and Yancy hoped so - not that he’d spent years slutting about, but he was, how did Raleigh put it? Old? Yancy smiled at Chuck and shook it out of his head, worked his hips against Chuck and clenched around him. “Look so good, Yance.”

“Yeah,” Yancy said. Chuck moved closer to him and both of them were hot, sweaty, even with the air conditioning. They slid against each other and Yancy groaned at the sound of their bodies as they moved together.

Chuck thrust into him, hard, making heat coil inside of Yancy. “Not gonna...Chuck!” Chuck had flicked his hips and was hitting his prostate dead on, and this made him grin knowingly. Yancy closed his eyes as Chuck grabbed his cock, pumped in rhythm with the thrusts.

He fucked Yancy through his orgasm and over to the other side of things. “I love this, fuck, so good-” Yancy groaned, because he did - being completely fucked out and still sparking with pleasure, cock spent but still feeling amazing as Chuck continued moving inside him. He opened his eyes as Chuck came, watched his face as he filled him. Chuck’s smile was wide and his eyes were closed. He looked, well, adorable.

Chuck leaned in closer before he drew out and ran his fingers through Yancy’s hair again. “You trying to tell me I need a hair cut?” Yancy asked. Chuck curled into his good side and shook his head.

“I like your hair,” he said. “Like all of you.”

“Even that weird toe that’s longer than my big toe?”

“We’re not playing that game,” Chuck said. “Also, I think you’re just really paranoid about that.”

“My hairy hobbit feet?”

“Those are a little weird,” Chuck said. He ran a hand over Yancy’s chest. “Rest of you has no hair.”

“These things happen,” Yancy said.

Chuck kissed him and strapped him back into the immobilizer. “Last night in this thing,” he said, and Yancy nodded - even though that meant surgery, tomorrow, meant the fact that his arm being strapped to his abdomen was going to seem like a walk in the park.

_You’ve got this,_ he told himself, and covered himself in the soft, thick cover. _It’ll be good. And Raleigh, Chuck, and Mako will all avenge you if it’s not._ He paused, for a moment. Raleigh was definitely Thor and Mako was the Black Widow. Chuck was a bit more difficult. He was sort of Hulk-like. Maybe Captain Australia? And why had someone not come up with that parody?

He sighed and reached for the bedside pill container and swallowed his nightly doses down just as Chuck tossed Max into the bed and then crawled in after him. “His balls are pretty big,” Yancy said, and felt bad for Raleigh.

“Course he does,” Chuck said. “He’s my dog.”

“Because that has everything to do with ball size,” Yancy said.

Chuck gave him a completely innocent look. “S’what Herc said,” he replied, and he managed to hold his face until the very end of things. Yancy shook his head and kissed him on the lips.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is what [Max's new bed looks like.](http://www.amazon.com/Luxury-High-end-Double-Pet-House/dp/B009521DBY/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1385405714&sr=8-4&keywords=indoor+dog+house)


	6. Chapter 6

Yancy woke up after his hip replacement surgery. Yancy decided he did not want to be awake, and let himself drift back off, carried by the sweet waves of dilaudid back out to sea.

Bad metaphor, though, because sea...waves. No. No. So much nope.

He remembered briefly waking on the deck of a boat. “Musta slipped out when the thing went down,” someone said. All Yancy could think was, _this isn’t dead, this isn’t right, this is very bad…_ Then pain hit, deep resounding thundering pain from nerves that were literally exposed and shredded. He passed out.

Yancy woke up in New York - but for a moment he was pretty sure he had traveled back in time to Anchorage. Memory overwhelmed reality again.

Raleigh had been there. Tendo had been there. Raleigh was wrecked, bruised, covered in bandages, his shoulder oozing something even through his gown. He squeezed Yancy’s hand. One of the few pieces of him not in a cast. Then he started crying, long streaming tears without any sound. “You’re...Yancy…”

Raleigh looked like he had been doing a lot of it lately and Yancy was confused. Raleigh Becket did not cry - well, except that one time, according to Lydia in Munitions, when they came simultaneously. More information than Yancy needed.  
Also, because things should be pretty awesome in heaven. They hadn’t been _that_ bad, though with mum passing when they were teenagers, she might have created a slightly inaccurate picture of what-

Chuck brought him back to the present because he had not been there last time. “Hey, Yancy,” he said.

“Fuuuuuuck,” Yancy said. It actually hurt less than he expected. He had some fucked up expectations, though.

“Well, he seems fine,” Chuck said to Yancy’s nurse. She had told him his name before he had gone into surgery. He felt bad for forgetting.

“Yancy?” Raleigh asked, from the other side of him. Yancy had sort of hoped the two of them might hash out some of their differences while he was in surgery but, apparently, no.

“Leg?” he asked.

“It’s still there,” Raleigh replied. Yancy tried to look up - he was flat on his back, and it did appear both of his legs were slings, just as had been described to him. “They had some trouble with the one, though, not enough bone-”

“Later,” said Yancy. Raleigh nodded. Yancy couldn’t parse his brain around that just yet, though he was pretty sure he understood the implication.

Chuck put a straw to his mouth. He sucked and it felt like his throat was made out of sand. Metaphors, and how to use them! “Fuuuck.”

“Dick’s still there, too,” Chuck added. “What? I checked.” Yancy sort of grinned - he was glad he wasn’t the only one concerned.

“Nevermind, you know what, you two are meant for each other,” Raleigh said.

“Oh, Rals…” Yancy said.

“He’s just not invested in that,” the nurse said.

“I like you,” Yancy said.

“You’re very sweet,” she replied.

Yancy closed his eyes and fell asleep again - he must have been hit by a dose of dilaudid. He didn’t care.

When he woke up again they were bringing him some food, a turkey sandwich and some applesauce. Herc was seated next to him. “Kicked the kids out for a bit,” he said. “Were getting squirrelly. You doing all right?”

Yancy had been relieved to hear Herc was coming up for the surgery - under the auspices of meeting with the UN, introducing Mako to the higher-ups, figuring out what to do with the PPDC now that… and Mako, after all, had important things to do. She shouldn’t have to be the only ringmaster of this circus.

“I think so,” Yancy said. “I just feel weird…”

“Yeah, well, I read the pamphlet,” Herc said, and he nodded at the booklet they had given Yancy when he first agreed to the surgery. Yancy winced - before, he had appreciated the two pages on sex and your hip replacement and how, following the sentence _obviously, there are other means of achieving sexual satisfaction besides intercourse and you should consider them during your recovery_ Chuck had scrawled _BLOWJOBS!_ “Figure I’ll be in your place, couple of years, so.”

Yancy didn’t doubt it. He had been watching Herc, the past few weeks, and he seemed to be suffering from the same problem Yancy was - without the apocalypse looming you became a lot more aware of how much you had kicked your bodies ass for the past ten or twelve years.

“I, uh, should apologize, too,” Herc added.

Yancy turned his head. It was never, ever good to hear that when the person apologizing knew you were on painkillers. “Kind of gave your brother a talking to, uh, might have been a little protective of Chuck…”

“Um, no, it’s…” Yancy sighed. He knew, better than anyone, where Raleigh was coming from with this. How many times had early relationships sputtered out when someone discovered what a fucking wreck Yancy was, physically and psychologically? And Raleigh had been there for him through all of it, the one constant. “He thinks Chuck is like the two of us, when we were twenty-one,” Yancy said, instead. Figured Herc knew the rest - he was wise.

Herc closed his eyes, likely recalling all of the tabloid and Internet press on them, the _Men’s Fitness_ cover, the gushing magazine interviews and talk show spots. Not like it was any of their idea. The PPDC had decided they were, literally and figuratively, perfect golden boys for the program. And then there were the rumors - a lot of them were sort of true. Or maybe Herc was just remembering Manila, where Raleigh had wound up losing a very good bottle of rum, a box of Oreos and first dibs on hitting on a LOCCENT tactical director to Scott Hansen in a drinking competition and Yancy had decided to go skinny dipping at six in the morning and was found passed out on an inflatable octopus raft in the hotel pool.

“Uh, well…”

“We were ridiculous little douchebags,” Yancy said.

“Well…”

“There are a wide variety of douchebags, sir,” Yancy said. “It might overlap a bit with the bro system - the frat-bro, the lax-bro, because somewhere in there is the douche-bro-”

“Right, well, I appreciate that explanation,” Herc said. “Anyway, told him to lay off Chuck because he was serious. Chuck either fully commits to something or…” Herc sighed. Yancy decided he didn’t need to point out that their father/son relationship was the exception to the rule.

_Nicely played, sir,_ Yancy thought. Defending his son’s honor to one brother and delivering a shovel talk to the other. Yancy grinned at him and Herc shrugged his shoulders, like it was no big thing.

“You are all right, though?” Herc asked. He nodded at Yancy’s morphine clicker.

“Oh, yeah,” Yancy said. He had been switched over to manual at some point, it appeared. He clicked.

“They tell you about your leg?”

“Told them not to,” Yancy replied. Might as well make Herc do all of the dirty work.

“Almost not enough bone left to do the right hip,” Herc said. “Had to put in a bunch more titanium, screws, whatever.”

“So I should be asking Gottlieb to recommend some can makers?” Yancy asked. Herc nodded. Yancy considered this - leg, still on. Dick, definitely on. He’d limped before. Had he really expected to come out of this rebuilt? “S’not gonna hurt, though?” he asked.

“No,” Herc said. “Took out a fuck ton of scar tissue, actually. Doctor said you were a right mess.” Herc kind of smiled at this.

Yancy sighed. He began to feel the effects of the pain killers. He realized that his bladder suddenly didn’t feel uncomfortably full anymore.

“I am pissing in a tube,” Yancy said, and smiled. “I can’t even feel it. Just happens.” He clicked his morphine again.

“Riight,” said Herc.

Not his proudest moment.

* * *

“Iwasmaybealittlewrong,” Raleigh said, two days later, after they removed Yancy from the stirrups and put him into a specially inclined hospital bed.

“What? What was that?” he asked, though he was well aware of how to translate contrite Raleigh - _momIwastryingreallyhardbutIhadtodothisthing_ or _butYancyTendosaidthatitwouldbefine!_

“Chuck seems to really...like you,” Raleigh said.

“You sound skeptical,” Yancy said. “Like I might be fundamentally unlikeable-”

“More that Chuck has feelings beyond the basic Neanderthal ones,” Raleigh replied. Yancy grinned - well played, little bro.

“Did you two sit down, talk it out, braid each other’s hair?”

“Um, sort of,” Raleigh said. “I actually caught him, uh, showing Helen the nurse all of these pictures on his laptop from us in Europe and he was...like...you know.” Yancy could imagine the particular derpy expression Chuck probably had while he showed off Yancy and Max and their epic adventure.

Yancy was relieved - he missed Raleigh. He’d missed him since he had started dating Mako, but Yancy knew he couldn’t keep his brother to himself. He thought he’d figure something out and never thought that Raleigh wouldn’t extend him the same allowances.

“Can we have dinner parties now?”

“Not if you’re cooking,” Raleigh replied.

“I was sixteen, Raleigh, fuck,” Yancy said. “I’ve improved since then.” Raleigh shook his head.

“I still remember the firefighter, Yancy. Might want to invest in a microwave, boys.” Raleigh nodded slowly.

“Oh, sorry.”

Raleigh turned and Yancy did his best to turn his head to the side. His visibility was still restricted by the angle they had him at. “No, come on in, Chuck,” Raleigh said.

“Brought real food,” Chuck said, and held up a bag from the Lebanese place they had discovered down the street before Yancy’s surgery. “Doctor said it’s OK. You want some, Raleigh?”

Yancy actually bit his lip - whoever thought Chuck would be the one to extend the olive branch? Literally, almost, too? He wanted to hug him. Look at his glowbug, all emotionally mature and growing up! And he wasn’t even the married one.

“Sure,” Raleigh said.

He had to have known Raleigh had watched him while he showed the nurse the pictures - not that Chuck would have put on a show. There were some things you couldn’t fake, and derpy expression were among them.

“Herc’s off to Los Angeles,” Chuck said as he pulled out the meze boxes. The PPDC had decided they wanted Shatterdomes on both coasts open, and L.A. had been the obvious choice - it had been the centralized headquarter in the West. Herc was going to assess things, start getting them running again. “Said he’s getting Tendo and Allison to head back, Gottlieb and Geiszler might come too - but they’d been in Hong Kong for awhile, so…”

“What are those?” Raleigh asked, pointing to a container.

“Grape leaves,” Chuck said. “They’re stuffed with rice and seasoning.” Raleigh looked up at Yancy, who shrugged his one shoulder.

And it was that stupid little thing that drove it all home - one shoulder was all he fucking had, one arm, and that was down from the last time he’d been in a hospital. There he had an arm and a leg, but he’d fucked himself up even more by getting back in a Jaeger and saving the world. Now he was sitting in a hotel bed, still pissing in a tube, about to start all kinds of therapy so that he could learn how to walk with his new, half functional hip.

“Yancy?” Raleigh asked. He knew all the signs. Chuck had only experienced the leg-cramping incident and, compared to some of Yancy’s previous...whatever you wanted to call them... “Hey…” Raleigh reached and put his hand over Yancy’s hand, face furrowed in concern. He glanced over at Chuck, who began to carefully move the sliding table away from Yancy’s bed so the food was out of the way.

“Fuck,” Yancy said. “I’m…” He swallowed, not wanting another panic attack.

“A hero,” Raleigh said.

“Still here,” Chuck said, and something flashed across Raleigh’s face that Yancy couldn’t quite decipher. Yancy liked the reference, though, and he gave Chuck a slow smile.

“Yeah,” Raleigh said, after a moment. “That’s probably more important, anyway.” He didn’t like it, Yancy could tell - and then he thought, _fuck, how can you be so obtuse?_

“Hey, Chuck..?” Yancy asked. Chuck met his eyes and glanced at Raleigh. “I could really use something to drink with the food?”

“Yeah, ‘course,” Chuck said. “I’ll go get that.”

“But-” Raleigh said, as Chuck stood up. You could see the gears turning in his head - Raleigh always was the most transparent people Yancy had ever met. “Oh.”

Chuck left quickly and closed the door behind him.

“Rals…” Yancy said, “I’m not going to replace you.”

“I thought we were talking about you and your-”

“Besides, why would you think that? With Chuck? As if he offers any of the same services and amenities...” Yancy said.

Raleigh at least cracked a smile at this. It was one of those big, puppyish smiles that hopefully meant that Yancy had drilled down to the core and found wherever the leak was. “You’re not broken,” Raleigh said, after a moment.

“I know,” Yancy replied. “Except I technically am.”

“Yeah, but they fixed-”

“But what happens when they can’t put Yancy back together again?” he asked. “Got pretty close, this time.”

“This hip replacement is meant to last for life,” Raleigh said. His face was still earnest and he reached and squeezed Yancy’s hand. “I’ll take care of you.”

“I know,” Yancy said - before Chuck, he’d figured, if they lived, he’d just head off to wherever Raleigh and Mako went, offer his excellent cooking skills and eventually excellent babysitting skills. _And there it is,_ he thought, he had never imagined an active role for himself. He hadn’t conceived of an active role with Chuck, either.

And how could he? There was no way to know what his body was going to do and when various parts of it were going to shit out on him - _might need a liver transplant, at some point…_

“I don’t want to need to be taken care of, though,” he said. “I want…”

Raleigh considered this and bit slightly at his lower lip. “But you got right back in Gipsy,” he said. “You didn’t...you just did what you had to do, then.”

“You needed me - they needed me,” Yancy said. “I couldn’t, after what...I couldn’t just watch those things drown us all in acid blue shit.” Raleigh nodded his head and then it appeared that a Big Thought was crossing his mind. “And no, getting a puppy won’t make it better.”

“I’m not going to get you a puppy,” Raleigh replied. Yancy shook his head at him.

“I’m out $100, you know, because I bet Tendo you would have your own puppy by now,” Yancy said.

“Oh, well…” Raleigh said, and he reached into his pocket. Yancy had to smile when he saw the picture of some ridiculous, furry little mutt with big brown eyes. “I put a deposit on him, but she’s got to get, ah, spayed or whatever,” Raleigh said.

“Excellent,” Yancy said. “Way to come through for me, little bro.”

Raleigh put the phone away and stared at Yancy for some time, and, once again, he was clearly thinking. “What did you think you were going to do, after the war?”

Yancy blinked back at him. “I didn’t - we were running a nuke into the Breach, and it wasn’t like they hadn’t tried that before-”

“I figured I would get married to Mako, and we would get a house somewhere, and I could, I don’t know, volunteer and build other people house’s and stuff-” Raleigh had always had an affinity for construction, for working with his hands. He had a really sad expression on his face. “I thought…”

“You were in love,” Yancy said. And he was Raleigh - they were perfect opposites, in several respects. Raleigh could burst out of bed and go from sleep to awake with the snap of his fingers, Raleigh was optimistic.

“But you were-”

“I figured I might…you know, thinking about it too much, might fuck it up,” Yancy said. Raleigh shook his head, all too familiar with that particular logic of Yancy’s. He remembered Raleigh on the phone with a friend from high school after their first drift session, telling him that the Beckets were going to get a Jaeger. Yancy had grabbed the phone from him and ended the call - if you talked about that kind of thing, out loud, like it was a sure bet? Pretty much guaranteed you would fail.

“So then what,” Yancy said, going back to Raleigh’s little domestic fantasy. “Then you would stay home, the dutiful house husband to a litter of adorable little Becket-Mori’s?”

“I didn’t think they’d all come out at once-” Raleigh protested.

“Too bad,” Yancy said, and clicked himself some morphine. “Then you could get a reality show about it, you know, _they were both Jaeger pilots but can they handle have quintuplets?_ ” The whole thing sort of flashed before his eyes and he grinned at the image.

“You should figure something out,” Raleigh said - like it was going to be easy.

“I’m almost thirty,” Yancy said, “and I’ve got the body of seventy year old. What the fuck am I supposed to do?”

Raleigh shrugged his shoulders and he thought for a long moment. “You could write,” he said. “You had all of those journals-”

Yancy furrowed his brow and then he felt a little bit nauseous. He had forgot about that, it was all before mom, before he had to take care of - he had composition notebooks, mostly, until he got older and wanted college ruled paper. Mom ruffling his hair, _my little Hemingway,_ and Yancy would protest, _really, mom, I’m not terse enough to be Hemingway…_

How had he…

It felt like a whole other lifetime, when he had done well in English and thought about going to college and then getting whatever job it was you got so that you could write on the side.

“Are you OK?”

Yancy shook his head and he felt his eyes fill with hot, almost desperate tears and he really didn’t want them to slide down his face - but you can’t always get what you want. “I forgot,” he said.

“Yeah,” Raleigh said. He squeezed Yancy’s hand and Yancy squeezed back. “I know, stuff from then, I try to - well, you know.”

“You two done having your little therapy session?” Chuck called, opening the door a crack.

“Someone,” said Raleigh, softly, “no, everyone, is going to want to tell our stories…and who better to capture the...unique characters…”

“We’re good,” Yancy said. He took his hand back from Raleigh, but only so that he could wipe at his eyes. “Oh, hot chocolate, Chuck, you are the very best Chuck.”

“That’s high praise,” Raleigh said. “Considering the other Chucks out there.”

“You know other Chucks?” Chuck asked.

“Chuck Norris,” Raleigh and Yancy both said together, and then laughed.

“And that is saying a lot,” said Raleigh. Chuck stared at both of them and his lip curled, then he reached and took a grape leaf from the container.

* * *

“So,” Yancy asked, “how was your first day of class?” He smiled at Chuck. _I have just learned how to piss and shit on my new hips!_ They were circling the hall of his rehab unit and Yancy was using a wheeled walker that would allow him to sit on it if he got too tired.

“Uh,” said Chuck. “Well…” He glanced over at Yancy. “It was this larger class. And these...they all sat down near me, and stared at me. And the one girl finally said, _Are you Chuck Hansen?_ and I said, _No._ ” Yancy had to smile, because he could imagine Chuck pulling his baseball hat down and slumping further in his seat. “ _You look a lot like him,_ she said, and I told her I get that a lot.”

“But then...of course, the professor calls role, so he says, _Hansen, Charles?_ and before I can say anything, _but you prefer Chuck, right? And can I just say thank you._ ”

“Oh, glowbug,” Yancy said. “You must have-”

“Bright fucking red,” Chuck said. “Glowbug is apt.”

“No, that’s in reference to your pale, glowing ass,” Yancy said. He winked at the nurse that they intercepted with another patient, an older man in a walker. He regarded the two of them with interest. “I like his pale, glowing ass,” Yancy said to him.

“I’d sure like to see it,” the other patient said.

“Move along,” Chuck said. The other patient grinned at him.

“Well, your attempt at misdirection obviously failed,” Yancy said.

“Yeah,” Chuck said. “They, uh, invited me out for coffee after.” Yancy turned and looked at him, wondering which response he would have preferred from Chuck.

“So you-”

“I went,” Chuck said. “I mean...that’s what you do, right? And so there was this other girl, Reilly-”

“That’s an interesting name,” Yancy said. Chuck shook his head at him.

“She was in my Russian class, too, so we went together. Our professor was pretty nice, so…”

“So that’s a good start,” Yancy said. “So European History and Russian, and then-”

“Literary Theory and Biochemistry,” Chuck said. “They gave me all these science credits for Physics and Math and Engineering and shit, but then said I still _had_ to take a science credit…” He shook his head. Yancy just smiled. He’d heard the rant two times, at least. “And then I have a lab for that, too. On Thursdays. So we’ll have to drop Max off with Raleigh - you OK?”

“Yeah, why?” Yancy asked.

“You got this, like, look on your face,” Chuck said. He trotted ahead of him and narrowed his eyes at Yancy.

“It’s called a smile, dumbass,” Yancy said.

“About my Biochemistry Lab?” Chuck asked. “Those must be some good drugs.”

“No, just...it’s nice,” Yancy said. Chuck shook his head slightly, but then he put his hands over Yancy’s on the walker and kissed him, lightly.

“See, now, that’s what’s gonna motivate me to walk around here,” said the same patient from before, as the nurse accompanying him shook his head.


	7. Chapter 7

“Figured I would introduce myself properly after I letched after your boyfriend,” said the patient from the hallway at dinner that evening. “Paul.”

“Yancy,” he replied. He smiled, but part of him wondered - how much older than someone did you have to be to letch after them? How much of an age gap did there need to be?

“Wait, you - you’re Yancy Becket?” Paul said. Yancy looked down and poked at his spaghetti and meatballs. “Sorry, it’s just, you looked...and there aren’t a whole lot of Yancy’s.”

“No,” Yancy replied. “It’s...that is very true.”

“Well,” Paul said. “So that was...you know, read it on some website, but they were convinced you two were just being idiots with that bulldog.”

“Well, we were,” Yancy replied. “And, uh…with each other.”

“Well done,” Paul said, and nodded his head. Yancy nodded back, but for some reason he felt a little unsure. “You OK?”

“I, just - well, he’s a lot younger, just starting college, and I’m-” he waved his hand down at his hips. He was largely free of bandages, at least, and pissing on his own. There were just strips over his incisions.

“Aw, hell, my husband is ten years younger,” said Paul. “Besides, not like he’s not going to understand how you managed to fuck your hips up, right?”

Yancy considered this and nodded his head. Still - Chuck was making friends at college. Yancy was making friends in the orthopaedic rehab unit. “So how’d you do it?” he asked. Paul seemed like he was probably in his fifties, maybe sixties. Yancy had a hard time telling ages.

“Hockey,” he replied. Yancy arched an eyebrow. “Played goal for twenty years, college, then mostly bar leagues, amateur stuff...wouldn’t give it up, though. You should eat. You’ll get scolded if you don’t.” He nodded his head over at one of the nurses who was standing in the doorway.

“Duly noted,” Yancy replied.

“And thank you,” Paul said. “For…”

“Yeah, well,” Yancy said. “Thanks.”

* * *

“Paul the Pervert, this is my brother Raleigh,” Yancy said. “And his wife, Mako Mori.”

“Nice to meet you,” Paul said. He extended his hand. Raleigh looked down at it, then at Yancy. “Pervert because I was coveting his boyfriend.”

“Chuck?” Raleigh asked. He glanced over to Mako, and she shrugged.

“I have something to discuss with you,” Mako said. Yancy met her eyes - he had no idea what that possibly could be. She seemed a bit harried, though, and she’d only been at the UN for a few days.

“Sure,” he said. “Raleigh, you and Paul can talk all about how cute Chuck’s ass is, or you can go and get filled in by the doctors, if you want.” Raleigh nodded his head and smiled at Yancy.

Mako walked alongside of him as hobbled, hands gripping his walker, over to a small lounge area. Yancy was getting into the swing of walking, again - literally the swing, in the case of his right leg, which they seemed to have attached by hinge. It rotated, but they had to do something so that it was at an odd angle and a bit shorter than his other leg. The foot stuck out to the right, like some sort of ballet pose or when you pretended to be duck footed.

Yancy wasn’t too concerned. He’d laid in his bed and got himself into a few positions, figured it wouldn’t affect his sex life too much. He was just glad he hadn’t been caught. _Sorry, uh, doctor, just trying to figure out how my boyfriend is going to fuck me…_ And he was doing better with his arm than anyone had predicted, nearly back to full capacity with that. So he was all right, he figured.

He was all right, he was all right, he was all right.

“You encouraged this puppy thing,” Mako said. She poked him in the ribs. Yancy winced, then felt like a bit of a wimp.

“Uh, no?” he said. “I just bet Tendo about when he would get one. Not if, Ms. Mori.”

“Mrs. Mori,” she corrected.

“Do you get the Mrs if you don’t take the last name - you know, nevermind, look, you had to have known that Raleigh-”

“He has too much energy,” Mako said.

“I thought the dog was a she,” Yancy replied. “Didn’t she have to get spayed, or-”

“Raleigh,” Mako said. “I am working. We only have an apartment and now this puppy. That is still not enough for a whole day.” It was, Yancy reflected, a little bit like she was worried about the puppy she had to leave at home while she went to work - Yancy tried not to smirk. She needed Raleigh Day Care.

“Uh oh, no,” Yancy said. “You married him, you’re in charge of his care and feeding.”

“It would seem you are in the same predicament,” she replied.

“Do you want us to take a fucking art class together or something?” he asked.

Mako looked down at her hands and sighed. “I am pleased with the work I am doing - and you, both of you, have been dedicated to the PPDC for a very long time. Someday you may wish to...or work somewhere else, but for now...you have earned your respite.”

Yancy leaned back so he could sit on his walker and consider what Mako was getting at. “A lot has happened in a short amount of time,” Yancy said. “And it’s not like any of us know how to do...real life. Raleigh will be fine - he’ll adjust, and he’s not going to get upset that you’re spending your time working.”

Mako considered this, staring at the wall for a long moment before she smiled slightly at him. “Raleigh always says you are good at reading people.”

“And you didn’t believe him?” Yancy asked.

“Your presentation is eccentric,” she replied. Yancy grinned at her. “But you must be. You have domesticated Chuck.”

“Well, I wouldn’t say completely,” Yancy replied. “He still makes messes in the house sometimes.” Mako smiled at this. “You love each other. It will be all right.” Mako still smiled, but it was a little bit tighter - Yancy understood. So much of what Mako done had involved metrics and measurements and quantifiable ways to improve.

“We should go find Raleigh,” Mako said, and Yancy nodded.

Raleigh was speaking animatedly with Yancy’s doctor and physical therapist. Yancy winced, slightly - he was under the impression that things were going well, but the way Raleigh was waving his hands round suggested that he was a little worked up about something. “Oh, hey, Yancy, did they tell you that you’ll probably be able to come home, like, two days early? The physical therapist can visit you at the apartment, apparently you’re doing really well so you can come and meet Fang.”

Yancy looked at Mako, who raised her eyebrows as if to say, _you see, his boredom is an issue._ “You named the girl puppy Fang?”

“Like Harry Potter,” Raleigh said.

“Right,” Yancy said. “Well. All right - so, I can go home early?”

“Probably in four days, if you keep as ahead on your rehabilitation schedule as you are,” the doctor said. “We’re going to get you on crutches tomorrow - it helps, coming in being in peak physical condition.”

“Ah, well,” Yancy said. “I wouldn’t go that far.” They just weren’t used to seeing thirty year olds, that’s all. He stopped himself, then - he was still twenty-nine, at least for a few more months. But...he sighed.

Raleigh clapped him on the shoulder. “I think Max is going to really like having a friend, you know?”

* * *

“Fuck, I hated crutches,” Chuck said as they walked the hallways the next afternoon. Yancy had already padded his with wash clothes under the shoulders and taped up the grips, but he still had to agree. Plus it made his arm hurt - something in the angle wasn’t right, and he was probably going to have to do extra strengthening exercises now. There went the whole _well, at least my arm works again_ thing, too.

“Yeah, well, another couple of days and I will advance to my final stage of cane,” Yancy said.

“Wait, aren’t you going to-” Chuck began. Yancy stopped. He was certain that Chuck knew. Herc was the one to tell him, after all.

“They had to get creative with the right hip,” Yancy said, “So…”

“Oi, don’t cut me off, Becket,” Chuck said, “aren’t you going to try to-”

“Well, yeah,” Yancy said. Chuck had a determined, action hero clench to his jaw. He gave Yancy an approving nod.

“Oh, you were right,” said a man. Paul the Pervert’s much younger partner - though Yancy was relieved to see that he didn’t look that much younger than Paul the Pervert.

“You again,” Chuck said.

“Paul,” Yancy said. “This is Chuck.” Chuck narrowed his eyes and then held out his hand.

“This is Reese,” said Paul. Reese stuck his hand out and Yancy obliged, but then he stumbled slightly, not remembering that he had a different center of balance on the crutches. Reese and Paul flinched, but Chuck grabbed Yancy’s waist and steadied him and his crutch.

“Paul and I had dinner together last night,” Yancy said.

“That’s nice,” Chuck said. “You’re making friends.”

“His reputation was not overstated in the press,” Yancy said, and the other men grinned at them.

“He knows his boyfriend was perving on my ass, right?” Chuck asked.

“Husband,” said Reese. “And I co-sign on that, absolutely.”

Chuck shook his head and Yancy grinned at him.

“Nice to meet you!” Yancy called as they both went their separate ways down the hall. “Raleigh’s getting his dog tomorrow,” Yancy added.

“Dumbass,” Chuck said.

“What happened?” Yancy asked. He could see the tension in Chuck’s back and neck and wished he could rub it out of him - well, he could, in a way. So as Chuck complained about how no one in his classes had done any of the reading and they were all just interested in drinking and hooking up, Yancy steered Chuck towards his room.

Chuck, deep in his rant, didn’t even notice until Yancy closed the door. “You need to relax,” Yancy said. “You have a stress vein.”

“Do not,” Chuck replied. “Herc has a fucking stress vein-”

“Lay down,” Yancy said. Chuck looked at him for a moment - and it made Yancy’s stomach lurch, that he didn’t immediately jump to sex, but he supposed this was to be anticipated. It had been almost a week and a half since his surgery.

But then Chuck grinned at him - wide, wild, and he got on the bed. Yancy went back to the door, locked it, and then grabbed some of petroleum jelly they kept around for - well, best not to consider that in this context. He sat in the armchair next to Chuck and used his arm to maneuver it as low as it could go, then swung the arm rest down. “Hmmm,” Chuck said. “Adjustable is…”

“Do you want a kink den, Chuck Hansen?” Yancy asked. He angled himself in and then grasped Chuck’s package. He massaged, circled his thumbs along his balls, and then pressed in hard with his palm. Chuck moaned. He was hard almost instantly. _Still go it,_ Yancy thought.

Chuck quickly got his pants down around his hips and Yancy grabbed his wrist when he moved to get his underwear. Yancy traced the outline of his cock with his thumb, pulled the boxer briefs down just to expose his cockhead. He ran his thumb along the ridge, lubed his hand, and then slid the boxer briefs down.

It only took a few minutes to pull Chuck undone and, Yancy decided, they should do this more often because Chuck was beautiful when he came and Yancy liked watching him from this angle. Chuck bit at his lip, squeezed his eyes, then opened his mouth and gaped as he came in Yancy’s hand. “There,” Yancy said, and pat his soft cock. “Better?”

“Fuck, yeah, Yancy, you’re so good,” Chuck said. “I’ve been thinking about the blow job I’m gonna give you when we’re home…” Yancy closed his eyes and gave Chuck a slow, appreciative smile. “So you should probably get to your therapy, oi?”

Yancy nodded, glad Chuck understood that he wasn’t quite ready - there were still huge incisions down there, and he was still fucking sore.

He watched as Chuck slid his pants back on. Mission accomplished, at least, the stress vein was gone. “You’re going to have to be patient with them,” Yancy said. Chuck blinked for a moment, not understanding. “They’re just kids. And if you’re not, they’re going to drive you fucking crazy.”

Chuck nodded, and Yancy was relieved that he didn’t make the crack about Raleigh that Yancy had pretty much set him up for.

* * *

“Aw, you didn’t have to,” Yancy said when he stepped into the apartment. Someone had made - no, who was he kidding, Raleigh had made - a banner on the computer that read _Welcome Home Yancy!_ and had taped a glittery sign with the same message onto the sweater Yancy bought for Max. There was a cake and champagne, too. Mako met his eye after he considered the banner and Yancy nodded. She might have had a point about Raleigh needing some structured activity time.

Chuck picked Max up - he was struggling and wiggling furiously. Yancy leaned down and squished his face and let the dog kiss him. Then Chuck put Max down, and Yancy leaned in and kissed him, hard.

“C’mon, where’s the puppy?” he asked.

“Oh, well, thought we would give Max his space,” Raleigh said. He darted across the hall. Yancy smiled when Herc came over with a wriggling mass of of fur - thick, fluffy, and a lot smaller than she had looked in the picture.

“Fang,” Yancy said. He rubbed her ears and her tail wagged furiously. “Aw, baby girl, aren’t you...small?”

“That was what I said,” Chuck said. “Figured you’d get some hound or something, majestic-”

“Wouldn’t be fair in an apartment,” Raleigh replied.

“Very sensible,” said Herc. Chuck rolled his eyes.

“Let’s drink,” Yancy said. “I would love a drink.”

He watched as Mako, Herc and Raleigh watched him, the swing in his hip and the way his leg stuck out at the odd angle. He looked like an actor playing a cripple in an old Hollywood movie - all exaggerated hitch and cane. “I’m great, really,” he said, as Herc began to cut the cake. Raleigh had made that, too, there were leftover pieces of glitter in the frosting.

“Was Paul upset to see you go?” Chuck asked.

“Well, yeah, but his boyfriend was more fond of me, I think...Paul liked your pale, freckled ass, remember?” Chuck blushed slightly but smiled at Yancy before he took the champagne and popped the cork easily.

“What?” Herc asked. Raleigh explained as he stroked Fang, smiling slightly.

He was, Yancy realized, precariously close to cracking - and Yancy had just ignored all of the glimpses he had caught of it, had failed to put it together into the full picture. _Oh God no more Jaegers well I’ll just marry Mako and get a puppy because that is what adults do plus Chuck is stealing my brother and…_

_Tomorrow,_ he decided. _Tomorrow._

They ate the cake, drank the champagne, and played with the dogs. Max seemed to be a bit suspicious of Fang, but she mostly bounced around him and stole his squeaky toys. “Not polite, Fang,” Herc said.

“She just wants him to play with her,” Raleigh replied. “She’s used to her other brothers and sisters - Max is more solitary.”

“Oi, Max has a great life,” Chuck replied.

“I wasn’t-” Raleigh stopped and sighed, grabbed a squeaky, and wiggled it in front of Fang.

“And can he take that damn sweater off?” Chuck asked. “He’s gonna have glitter stuck to him for months.”

“I like it,” Yancy said. Raleigh smiled at him. Herc just rolled his eyes.

Yancy stretched out on their enormous bed later that evening, completely content - primarily being in a bed he could stretch out on, and the fact that it had a mattress that was actually firm along with a comforter that was as soft as a cloud.

“Hey,” Chuck said, hopping onto the bed after he tucked Max into his house.

“He likes the house,” Yancy said.

“Yeah, well…” Chuck said, and he had that look on his face and Yancy remembered that he had been promised a blowjob. “You’re naked and ready, huh?”

“Oh, well…” _Sure,_ Yancy thought. His underwear irritated his scars, but they didn’t need to get into that.

“I missed you,” Chuck murmured. He kissed Yancy delicately and straddled over top him. He traced his lips all over Yancy’s body, let his fingers wander over the new scar on her arm. “You’re so gorgeous.”

“Thank you,” Yancy said. Chuck kissed down his stomach, licked at his nipples and then squeezed them with his fingers. Yancy squirmed as Chuck kissed lower and carefully ran his fingers over the scars on his hips.

He grasped Yancy’s cock in his hand, first, and pumped gently. Then he licked at his cockhead, slow and with just a hint of contact. “Fuuck, oh…” Yancy said, and Chuck licked around and down, basically letting his tongue dance over Yancy’s cock. “Chuck, I’m not-”

“Mmm, that’s OK,” Chuck murmured, and his finger dipped down and massaged Yancy right in the perfect spot.

“Fuck, God, Chuck, uh, that’s-” Yancy sort of went incoherent after that - Chuck knew how to drag it out, even with Yancy being so close to the brink. He squirmed, a little desperate, but Chuck’s lips were soft and slow and his tongue curled just right and then… “Chuck, I, please, fuck!”

Chuck hummed on his cock and increased his pace just slightly. Yancy wanted to fuck his mouth but knew it was against the guidelines for his hip replacement. Chuck put a hand on his belly, perhaps thinking the same thing - and then he pressed hard against Yancy’s perineum and sucked his mouth over the tip and Yancys was coming in fast, desperate spurts.

Chuck pat his cock just like Yancy had, and Yancy sighed. “There,” he said. He slid up Yancy and kissed him and Yancy felt good. He was home.

* * *

 

_Raleigh i am more metal than person come over and get me some juice from the fridge_

_I am busy._

_trying to blow yourself?_

* * *

  
_Does Max stick his tongue out when he sleeps?_

_Yes_

_what do you think it means?_

_GOOGLE IT RALEIGH_

Mako definitely had a point, Yancy thought, and turned back to his new copy of Scrivener.

* * *

 

_YANCY. BORED._

_You can bring the puppy over to play?_

_We did that yesterday_

_Do you want me to take you down to the park? WE CAN GO ON THE SWINGS._

Yancy frowned when he didn’t get an immediate response. He hoped Raleigh wasn’t trying to bake something again, he really should have learned from the muffins that-

_I want to go somewhere_

_We can explore,_ Yancy said. _We can go find Chuck._ Chuck hadn’t really been around lately - his first paper and presentation were due for his English class and his first big lab report due for Biochemistry. He said it was too hard to study at the apartment, that between Yancy, Max, and usually Raleigh and Fang there was just too much going on.

Yancy missed him. He was in discomfort, he couldn’t figure out how to sit so that he wasn’t, he was bored, and...yeah, he needed a purpose. “We could bring him coffee,” Raleigh said, opening the door. “I saw that in a movie, and it was in a montage. The student was very appreciative.”

“Have you just been sitting over there, watching romantic comedies?” Yancy asked.

Raleigh narrowed his eyes and shook his head, then muttered, “Maybe.” He plopped Fang down on the floor. “Max, you watch Fang, OK? We’re going out.”

“We should bring Max,” Yancy said. “Now that Chuck went to all that trouble to get him the fake helper dog vest.”

“It will be more legitimate with you, anyway,” Raleigh replied. Yancy nodded.

It was a good idea - he was supposed to walk around, get used to a variety of different types of terrain. What better than exploring the New York metro system?

“Maybe we should take the bus,” Raleigh said, peering down the long staircase with multiple landings at the closest subway station.

Yancy furrowed his brow. They could take a cab - it wasn’t like they couldn’t afford it, and it was the sensible thing to do. On the other hand...he had killed eight kaiju. What were a few steps?

Max made a grumbling sound - he was smarter than both of them, of course, but Yancy started down regardless while Raleigh scooped Max up and carried him. “OK, Ow,” Yancy said, about midway down the first staircase - it felt like each step was drilling straight into his core.

“I am not carrying you down the steps,” Raleigh said. Max whimpered and tried to move closer to Yancy, perhaps sensing his distress.

“Cab,” Yancy agreed.

They rolled down the window so Max could stick his head out and take in the fresh city air. “Are bulldogs usually used as service animals?” the cabbie asked. It was the one problem with Max - he didn’t look especially skilled, like he could pick up things Yancy dropped.

Before Raleigh could say he was an emotional support animal, Yancy smiled and said, “He’s a seizure dog.”

“Oh,” said the cabbie. “Read an article about that. Really clever.”

Raleigh blinked a bit at the street side facade of the Columbia campus. Yancy knew the feeling - he’d only gone the once, to meet Lily, but the whole place was fancy and intimidating. Not the type of college either of them would ever have had a chance of getting into - probably even now, after saving the world and everything.

“How do you know where Chuck is?” he asked.

“He usually studies in the same place in the library,” Yancy replied.

“Of course he would,” Raleigh said.

They got a venti of the sort-of coffee Chuck liked - heavily flavored with syrups and sugar - and plain coffee for each other. Raleigh sighed as he balanced the carrying tray along with Max. “I can take the dog,” Yancy said. “I’m the cripple, anyway.”

“Yance.”

“Raleigh, it’s fine,” Yancy said. “I am.” He flicked his cane into Raleigh’s shoe, and Raleigh sighed. “Really.”

“I just-”

“Kaiju war hero, Raleigh,” Yancy said. “Come on.”

They made it three steps into the library before they were stopped. _Fuck,_ Yancy thought, because he hated librarians - and wasn’t the librarian the reason Chuck had to get the vest for Max? And then she wanted a certificate on top that? Yancy furrowed his brow. Chuck wasn’t as charming as he was - or visibly disabled.

“No dogs-”

“He’s my service dog,” Yancy replied. He glanced down at his leg, foot clearly sticking out at an awkward angle.

“We’re Kaiju War veterans, ma’am,” Raleigh said. He gave her that smile of his. This would be a good test of its powers.

“And the coffee?”

“For another veteran,” Yancy said. “Dutifully studying upstairs. Don’t worry, the dog is trained to catch it before it falls.”

The librarian yielded, and Raleigh grinned at Yancy in the elevator. “Fuck, remember Mrs. Pratt in high school?”

“Oh, God,” Yancy said. “Raleigh Becket are you drawing in the books?”

“Yancy Becket I know you took that issue of Sports Illustrated-”

“The one with all the topless hockey players?” Yancy asked and he grinned. A lot of good nights had been spent with that one.

“Were you two raised in a kennel?”

Max barked at them, alerting them to the fact that the door had opened. “Well, self-fulfilling prophecy, then, huh,” Raleigh said, “very helpful.” He rubbed Max’s head before Yancy set him down.

It wasn’t far to the study room Chuck indicated he occupied with several other students. Yancy paused because Chuck had not mentioned that these students were largely female - and Yancy had been under the impression it was one or two others, not about fifteen people crammed into a large room with tables, couches, and beanbags. They were laughing, lightly pushing each other, and Chuck was animatedly talking to a girl seated next to him.

Yancy felt a little betrayed - all this time Chuck spent about bitching about college, and…

“Oh,” Raleigh said. He glanced down at the coffee.

“Well, we made it this far,” Yancy said. He felt an extra hitch in his step as he approached the room - it must have been somehow sound proofed, because no one reacted to their advance. He rapt on the door to avoid scarring anyone.

“Um…” said the girl who opened the door. She squinted at them. “Ooh! Who’s the coffee for?”

They all perked up at the coffee word, and Chuck turned his head slightly, clearly surprised to see Yancy, Raleigh, and Max.

“There’s a dog!” another girl said. “In a vest!”

“Hey,” Yancy said.

“Fuck, you’re a life saver,” Chuck said, standing and plowing through the crowd - it was strange, how much of a physical difference there was between eighteen and twenty-two year-olds. Chuck was also still a tank, even not in peak fighting form. He grabbed the coffee from Raleigh and then kissed Yancy right on the lips.

_Oh,_ Yancy thought, and really, he should have known better. Chuck was just an idiot. Nothing to see here. “Oh, hey, guys - this is Yancy, and Raleigh,” Chuck said. “And Max.”

All eyes in the room turned towards them - Yancy knew the look. Jaeger pilots! Right in front of you! But it was probably a bit more surreal in the Columbia library, even when you were in a study group with one of them.

“Hi,” said one of the girls, and Yancy knew that look too - _that’s right,_ he thought, _all that effort, and he turns out to actually be gay._

“Do, um, all of you want coffee?” Yancy asked. There was resounding silence, and then Chuck rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, I’m sure they do,” he said. Yancy grinned at Raleigh, who shook his head. Some of the kids had started digging into their purses or for their wallets.

“Aw, shit, no,” Raleigh said. “It’s fine. I’ll go get one of those travelers - I’ll be right back. Max, stay.”

“He’s my damn dog, Raaaleigh, I’ll tell him to-” Chuck narrowed his eyes at Raleigh, and he narrowed them back.

“Mind if I sit?” Yancy asked, because his ass was literally burning. He didn’t wait, just plopped into a seat that one of the girls had vacated when she stood up to pet Max. Chuck plopped down on the armrest. Max, meanwhile, luxuriated in the attentions of several of Chuck’s study partners.

“This was a really great surprise,” Chuck said, and he wrapped his arm around Yancy’s shoulder and smiled.

“I totally thought that website was, like, a joke,” said one of the girls, still trying to process things.

“It was,” Yancy said. Chuck grinned. Yancy shifted to get more comfortable and sighed when his cane clattered to the floor.

“Here,” said another girl. “I’m Reilly.” The one from Russian, Yancy remembered, and her nervous smile indicated that she might have realized there was no point in being interested in fucking Chuck.

“We’re partners in Russian dialogue,” Chuck said.

“Hello, how are you?” Yancy asked in Russian, slow with his words.

“Very well, thank you,” she replied, also in Russian. “I am very bad at Russian.”

“Hardly,” Yancy said, switching back to English, and he gave Chuck a slow smile.

“How did you learn to speak Russian?” she asked.

“Oh, we lived all over when we were kids,” Yancy said. “Then we, uh, spent some time over there later, so…” He didn’t want to talk about his time in Vladivostock, though. “Reilly, though - the name is going to get confusing?”

“There’s a clear difference between Raaaaaleigh and Reiiiiiily,” Chuck replied. Two of the girls in the room winced.

“You know, you can sit there and flirt with your…”

“Boyfriend,” Chuck said, and Yancy felt his heart melt - or grow three sizes, whichever metaphor worked better.

“Or we can discuss our presentation,” she finished. The kids in the room began to separate on the orders of the girl, presumably into the two groups from their class.

“What’s it on?” Raleigh asked as he opened the door. He had a large box of coffee with him, a bag full of cups, cream, and sugar, and what appeared to be box of brownies. “Sweets, too, right?” he asked. One of the girls bat her eyelashes at him but then must have caught the glint of his wedding ring when he set the coffee down for them.

“Our group has to talk about the differences between _Brave New World_ and _1984_ ,” Chuck said. “So we’ve been trying to figure out what the big ones are.” He looked at Raleigh, almost pleading, like, can you believe that this kind of basic task is beyond them. This, too, warmed Yancy’s heart. So his rants weren’t just for show, then - rather, Chuck’s easy demeanor was perhaps more of the show, and Yancy decided it would be all right for him to take responsibility for some of that. For domesticating the previously wild, unruly Chuck.

“Oh, well, the primary one is the mechanism of state control,” Raleigh said. “So, you’ve got force and intimidation that is used to sort of, beat-up on people so that they only want what you want them to want, and then the use of science and technology to influence what they want - they’re both dictatorships, but one gets around it at the back-end and the other at the front-end.”

The students - accepted to one of the country’s most selective institutions - all turned and sort of blinked up at Raleigh. “And then you’ve got the idea of happiness and truth,” Raleigh said. “I would say, in 1984, the government has decided people value truth - what with all the language changes - and then in Brave New World, they’ve decided to value happiness. But, um, it’s been awhile since I read them.” He shrugged his shoulders, reached into the brownie box, and pulled out a big, goopey chocolate square. He smiled at the college students.

“That’s a good start, definitely,” Chuck said. Yancy smiled when he saw that Chuck had written these things down. “Thanks, Rals. Um. We’re probably just going to keep on this..?”

“We’ll walk around,” Yancy said. “Max could use some fresh air.”

“Just text when you’re ready to go? Hopefully we’ll be done,” Chuck said, then he turned back to the study group.

Raleigh tugged Max out of the room. He whimpered softly. “S’Ok, Chuck’s gotta learn a lot of stuff,” Raleigh said. “Mostly how to play well with others.”

“That was a pretty good analysis,” Yancy said. “When did you read all that stuff?”

“On my phone, on the way up,” Raleigh said. “Saw the two books they all had out on the table.” He grinned at Yancy, and Yancy grinned back at him. He put his arm around Raleigh’s shoulder and pulled him in and laughed as they got into the elevator.

“I was going to say you should go back to school, but-”

“Naw,” Raleigh said. “Well, not for that. But, um, I found a cooking class for us to take?”

“Oh,” Yancy said, and, given both of them currently occupied the position of house-husband, this was probably a good idea. “Yeah, all right.”

“Cool,” Raleigh said. “They said they can teach even the most hopeless-”

“Raleigh, I was-”

“Might want to invest in a microwave, boys,” Raleigh said, mimicking the firefighters voice almost perfectly.


End file.
